Israel continues to target Hezbollah in Lebanon

• Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon on Friday.
• The region is now on edge as a wider conflict looms and Israel weighs a ground operation.
• Israel continued to strike Hezbollah in Lebanon on Sunday.

A day after confirming it had killed longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike in Lebanon, stunning the world and instantly reshaping the Middle East conflict, Israel remains on the offensive.

The Israel Defense Forces said on Sunday they continued to strike targets in Lebanon said to be harboring Hezbollah members. It also retaliated against attempted missile attacks by the Houthis in Yemen, another proxy of Iran, which hit the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah.

“The IDF will continue to strike and eliminate commanders within the terrorist organization Hezbollah and will act against anyone who threatens the citizens of the State of Israel,” the Israel Defense Forces said on Sunday.

The IDF said it also killed Nabil Qaouk, commander of Hezbollah’s Preventive Security Unit and a member of the group’s Executive Council, in a separate airstrike.

Both the Israel Defense Forces and Hezbollah confirmed on Saturday that Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike on a neighborhood in Beirut.

It was a startling development that some worry could draw Iran more directly into the conflict. Nasrallah was Iran’s most important and best-armed proxy. He led Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon for more than three decades and is credited with expanding the group’s military capabilities and stockpile of missiles and rockets.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei condemned the killing in a series of statements on Saturday but did not threaten retaliation. Reuters reported on Sunday that Khamenei had been moved to a secure location, a sign of how vulnerable the Iranian government feels after Israel’s assassination of Nasrallah.

US officials confirmed to ABC News that Israeli troops may or may soon conduct small-scale operations in Lebanon in an effort to eliminate Hezbollah positions on the border. Israel has not yet decided whether to launch a full-scale ground operation, but the country is preparing for the possibility, officials told ABC.

Such an operation would be limited in scope, CNN reported, citing a senior administration official. Israel’s goal is to return to their homes some 60,000 Israeli residents who fled Hezbollah rocket attacks in the northern border area.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett told CNN that this moment presents a “huge opportunity” for Israel to “remove this entire threat” of Hezbollah, calling on the people of Lebanon to “take back” their country from the Iran-backed militant group.

In response to the airstrikes that killed Nasrallah, Iran’s UN ambassador called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to address what he described as Israel’s “terrorist aggression” in Lebanon.

President Joe Biden said Nasrallah and Hezbollah “were responsible for killing hundreds of Americans during a four-decade reign of terror.”

“His death in an Israeli airstrike is a measure of justice for his many victims, including thousands of American, Israeli and Lebanese civilians,” Biden said in a statement on Saturday.

Air raid sirens have sounded across Israel in the past 24 hours as the country braces for possible retaliatory attacks by various factions in the region allied with Hezbollah and Iran. The IDF said on Sunday that Hezbollah had fired missiles at Israel and said on Saturday that it had intercepted a missile fired by the Houthis in Yemen.

Israeli airstrikes on Friday destroyed several high-rise apartment blocks in the Haret Hreik residential neighborhood in southern Beirut.

Television footage from Beirut early Saturday showed plumes of smoke billowing from damaged buildings.

Israel has increasingly targeted top Hezbollah officials and operatives in recent weeks in strikes that have killed hundreds of people.

Hezbollah members were also targeted in a covert operation that involved detonating electronic communications devices. The sophisticated attack was attributed to Israel, although it did not claim responsibility.

Tensions between the two sides have been rising since October 8, the day after Hamas attacked Israel. Hezbollah fired missiles into Israel in what it said was a show of solidarity with Hamas and conflict-affected Palestinians.

In his statement from the White House, Biden said he had told his defense secretary to “further enhance the defense posture of US military forces” in the region as a deterrent, though he said the ultimate goal was to de-escalate the conflict ” through diplomatic means”. “

Israel warns of difficult days ahead

The IDF said the strike that killed Nasrallah and some of his other top officials on Friday was part of a precision strike by the Israeli air force on Hezbollah’s headquarters, which it said was located underground under a building residential.

In a televised press conference on Saturday, IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said Israel was on high alert and warned of difficult days ahead.

“Israel is not looking for a wider escalation,” Hagari said, adding that the military is looking to bring home hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and ensure its borders are secure.

The Israeli government ordered its citizens not to hold large gatherings of more than 1,000 people in the central area of ​​the country today amid fears of reprisals.

In a series of posts on X, Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, condemned the attacks in Lebanon and showed solidarity with Hezbollah.

“Lebanon will make the malicious enemy regret its actions,” said a post on Khamenei’s account.

Iran is a close ally of Hezbollah and has funded the group for decades. Iran’s state news agency said on Saturday that Iranian Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan was also killed in the Israeli strike that killed Nasrallah.

A Pentagon spokesman said on Friday that he had received no warning about Israel’s operation in the Lebanese capital this weekend. The US and allies — including the UK, France and Germany — issued a joint statement earlier this week calling for an immediate 21-day ceasefire across the border between Lebanon and Israel.

Hezbollah is a US-designated foreign terrorist organization with between 40,000 and 50,000 fighters, according to the Congressional Research Service. The group also has close ties to the government of Syria and Houthi militants in Yemen.