(Beirut) The Israeli army announced on Sunday that it had carried out “dozens” of new raids against Hezbollah in Lebanon where it continues to target executives of the powerful pro-Iranian movement, two days after killing its leader Hassan Nasrallah.
She indicated that she had “eliminated the terrorist Nabil Qaouq, commander of the security unit […] of Hezbollah and member of the central council” of the organization in an airstrike Saturday on the stronghold of the armed Islamist movement in the suburbs of Beirut.
The army “eliminated the terrorist Nabil Qaouq, commander of the security unit […] of Hezbollah and member of the central council” of the organization, she said in a press release.
PHOTO JIM URQUHART, REUTERS
Plumes of smoke rise after Israeli air strikes on villages in southern Lebanon, September 29, 2024.
A source close to Hezbollah confirmed to AFP that Qaouq was killed in a strike on Saturday in the southern suburbs of Beirut, adding that he was a member of Hezbollah’s central council and responsible for security within the group.
“Nabil Qaouq was considered close to the top of the Hezbollah terrorist organization and directly engaged in promoting terrorist projects against the State of Israel and its citizens, even in recent days,” the army added.
Hezbollah confirmed on Saturday the death of its charismatic leader Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli bombardment of unprecedented power on Friday on its stronghold near Beirut.
The death of the man who was considered the most powerful man in Lebanon is a devastating blow to the movement, constitutes a major victory for Israel against Iran and its allies, but plunges the region into the unknown.
Read “What impact will the death of Hezbollah leader have? »
“We have settled our scores with the person responsible for the murder of countless Israelis and many citizens of other countries,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“The line” of Nasrallah “will continue and its sacred objective will be achieved with the liberation of Jerusalem,” according to Tehran.
Lebanese Hezbollah announced on Sunday that it had fired rockets at the town of Safed, in northern Israel. In a press release, he indicated that he had fired “salvos of rockets” to respond to Israeli strikes on Lebanon.
PHOTO BAZ RATNER, ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES
The Israeli air defense system intercepts rockets launched from Lebanon, over Safed, northern Israel, Saturday, September 28, 2024.
Tehran’s response
Several Hezbollah executives were killed alongside Hassan Nasrallah on Friday in the operation called “New Order”, Israel said.
A deputy to the head of the Revolutionary Guards, Iran’s ideological army, was also killed in the same strike. His death “will not go unanswered,” Tehran promised.
According to Israel, “most” of Hezbollah’s senior leaders have been killed in recent months.
At the head of Hezbollah since 1992, Hassan Nasrallah, 64, was a man of religion who was the subject of a veritable cult of personality among his supporters, particularly within the Shiite Muslim community from which he came. For years he had lived in hiding and rarely appeared in public.
PHOTO AHMAD AL-RUBAYE, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
A portrait of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah hangs on a street in Baghdad on September 29, 2024, after Iraq officially declared a three-day period of national mourning following the death of the Lebanese leader.
His cousin Hachem Safieddine, an eminent figure in Hezbollah, appears to be a potential successor.
Tehran requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Saturday evening “to stop Israeli aggression and prevent dragging the region into all-out war”.
Pope Francis has called for an immediate ceasefire in “martyred” Lebanon.
One million displaced
The Israeli army announced on Sunday that it had again “attacked dozens of terrorist targets” of Hezbollah: rocket launch sites, military installations and weapons depots.
PHOTO LOUISA GOULIAMAKI, REUTERS
Smoke rises from damaged buildings following Israeli airstrikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut, September 29, 2024.
The official Lebanese agency ANI reported on Sunday at least six deaths in the bombing of a house in the region of Hermel (North-East), as well as “violent raids” on the town of Baalbek (East) and its surroundings.
The Lebanese Health Ministry also announced on Sunday that 14 rescue workers had been killed in Israeli raids. He specified that Israel had “increased attacks against rescue workers and health centers”, denouncing “with the greatest firmness the repeated attacks by the Israeli enemy”.
According to Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, nearly a million people may have been displaced by Israeli bombings, the largest population displacement in the country’s history, according to him.
“I didn’t even take clothes, I never thought we would leave like this, only to suddenly find ourselves in the street,” Rihab Naseef, 56, a resident of south Beirut, told AFP.
The World Food Program (WFP) has announced an emergency operation to provide food aid to one million people affected by the violence in Lebanon.
Financed and armed by Iran, Hezbollah was created in 1982 at the initiative of the Revolutionary Guards.
Despite the incessant blows carried out by Israel, the movement announced on Saturday that it had fired rockets against northern Israel, most of which were intercepted.
On Sunday, the Israeli military reported that around eight projectiles fired from Lebanon fell in open areas on the outskirts of Tiberias in northern Israel.
She also added that she had intercepted an “air target” coming from the Red Sea, where pro-Iranian Houthi rebels have claimed several attacks against Israel in recent months.
“Total defeat”?
The attack on Nasrallah “was very sophisticated.” She “demonstrates […] also to what extent Israel has infiltrated Hezbollah,” deciphers James Dorsey, researcher at the Middle East Institute at the National University of Singapore.
“Either we are witnessing an unprecedented reaction from Hezbollah […] Or its total defeat,” said Heiko Wimmen, regional specialist at the International Crisis Group (ICG).
The Shiite movement opened a front against Israel at the start of the war in Gaza, triggered by the Hamas attack on Israeli territory on October 7, 2023.
After a year of sporadic exchanges of fire across the border, Israel launched a major bombing campaign against the Shiite movement in Lebanon almost a week ago.
Israel claims to be acting to stop Hezbollah’s fire towards the north of its territory and thus allow the return of tens of thousands of residents forced to flee.
At the same time, it continues without respite its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip where at least six people were killed in strikes in Gaza City, Jabalia (North) and Nousseirat (Center), according to Civil Defense in the besieged Palestinian territory.
The Hamas attack of October 7, 2023 led to the death of 1,205 people on the Israeli side, the majority of them civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data and including hostages who died or were killed in captivity in the strip. from Gaza. Of the 251 people taken as hostages on October 7, 97 are still being held in Gaza, 33 of whom were declared dead by the Israeli army.
At least 41,595 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli military campaign of retaliation on the Gaza Strip, the majority civilians, according to data from the Hamas government’s Health Ministry for Gaza, deemed reliable by the UN.