Israel said it struck “dozens” more Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on Sunday, after dealing the Iran-backed group a seismic blow by killing its leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
Nasrallah’s killing and the past week’s waves of strikes on Hezbollah strongholds around Lebanon have plunged the tiny Mediterranean country and the wider region into fear of even more violence to come.
Hezbollah launched low-intensity cross-border strikes on Israeli troops after its Palestinian ally Hamas staged its unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, sparking the war in the Gaza Strip.
Nearly a year later, Israel announced a shift in its focus to battling Hezbollah on its northern front with Lebanon.
Hezbollah confirmed Nasrallah’s killing on Friday in a massive strike on the group’s main bastion in south Lebanon’s capital, Beirut.
The Lebanese health ministry said the strikes on the densely populated area also left 55 people dead, while thousands of others have fled their homes in the neighbourhood.
“I can’t describe my shock at this announcement… we all started crying,” Maha Karit told AFP in Beirut after Nasrallah’s death.
With Lebanon already deep in political and economic crisis, the escalation has pushed it to the brink, with the bombardment killing more than 700 people in a week, according to health ministry figures.
The Israeli military said on Sunday its air force had struck “dozens of Hezbollah terror targets” after carrying out “hundreds” of strikes on Friday and Saturday.
Lebanon’s National News Agency reported a string of raids in and around the city of Baalbek in the east, with “factories, warehouses” and residential areas among the targets.
At least six people were killed in a strike on a house in the northeastern Hermel region, the agency reported, while an emergency response group affiliated with Hezbollah ally Amal movement said five of its rescuers were killed in the south.
Hezbollah said its fighters launched “a volley of Fadi-1” rockets at an Israeli base in the Golan Heights early Sunday.
The Israeli military reported “approximately eight” launches from Lebanon that fell in unpopulated areas near the Israeli-annexed territory.
Cult status
Nasrallah was the face of Hezbollah, enjoying cult status among his supporters.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had “settled the score” with Nasrallah’s killing, while Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said the world was “a safer place” without him.
US President Joe Biden – whose government is Israel’s top arms supplier – said it was a “measure of justice for his many victims”.
Analysts told AFP that Nasrallah’s death leaves bruised Hezbollah under pressure to respond.
“Either we see an unprecedented reaction by Hezbollah… or this is total defeat,” said Heiko Wimmen of the International Crisis Group think tank.
The assassination also showcased Israel’s military and intelligence prowess in its battle against its foes.
“It demonstrates not only significant technological capacity but just how deeply Israel has penetrated Hezbollah,” said James Dorsey of Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.
Hezbollah backer Iran has condemned Nasrallah’s assassination, with First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref threatening it would bring about Israel’s “destruction”.
Iran’s UN envoy Amir Saeid Iravani urged diplomacy to prevent Israel “from dragging the region into full-scale war”.
Hamas, which has fought Israeli forces in Gaza since the October 7 attack, condemned Nasrallah’s killing as a “cowardly terrorist act”.
Lebanon, Iraq, Iran and Syria all declared public mourning.
Allied armed groups across the region like Yemen’s Huthi rebels, already drawn into the Gaza war, have vowed action against Israel.
An “unmanned aerial target” approaching Israel over the Red Sea – where the Iran-backed Huthis have launched attacks before – was intercepted on Sunday, the Israeli military said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.