Benjamin Netanyahu hails 'historic turning point' after Hezbollah leader's death
ITV News International Editor Emma Murphy says the assassination of Nasrallah is a "monumental blow" for Hezbollah and Iran
Benjamin Netanyahu has said the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was "necessary" to achieve Israel's goals and to restore a "balance of power" in the Middle East.
In a statement on Saturday evening, the Israeli described Nasrallah, who was killed in an air strike in Beirut late on Friday, as "a historic turning point".
"We have settled accounts with someone who was responsible for the murders of countless Israelis and many nationals of other countries, including hundreds of Americans and dozens of French.
"Nasrallah was not just another terrorist, he was the terrorist. He was the axis of the axis, the main engine of Iran's axis of evil. He and his people were the architects of the plan to destroy Israel."
Netanyahu said the elimination of Nasrallah would help facilitate the return of residents to towns in northern Israel who evacuated their homes as Hezbollah militants began firing rockets over the border after the attacks of October 7.
He also said that if Hamas' leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar sees Nasrallah "will not be coming to his rescue", the greater the chances are of Israeli hostages held in the Palestinian territory being released.
"All those who oppose the axis of evil, all those who are fighting under the violent dictatorship of Iran and its proxies in Lebanon, Syria, Iran itself and other places, they are all filled with hope today.
"I say to the citizens of those countries: Israel stands with you. And to the [Iranian] Ayatollahs' regime I say: Those who strike us, we strike them.
"There is no place in Iran or the Middle East that the long arm of Israel cannot reach. Today, you already know that this is correct."
US President Joe Biden called Nasrallah’s killing a “measure of justice for his many victims,” including Americans. The US “fully supports Israel’s right to defend itself against Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and any other Iranian-supported terrorist groups,” he said in a statement.
However, Biden also called for de-escalation, in both Lebanon and Gaza, through "diplomatic means".
Hezbollah, who Nasrallah led since 1992, vowed to “continue the holy war against the enemy and in support of Palestine”, while Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose government is Hezbollah’s main backer, issued his own message saying “regional resistance forces” should “stand by and support Hezbollah”.
The Israeli military said Saturday that they killed Nasrallah in an airstrike on Hezbollah headquarters in Dahiyeh, south of Beirut while the group's leadership was having a meeting.
Multiple Hezbollah commanders and operatives were also killed in the strikes, the Israeli military added. The Lebanese Health Ministry said six people were killed and 91 injured in the strikes, which levelled six apartment buildings.
Nasrallah was a powerful figure in the Middle East, having lead Hezbollah for more than three decades, and his death has sent shockwaves across the region, with hundreds of protesters in Baghdad trying to cross into the fortified Green Zone, where the US Embassy is based.
Meanwhile the US State Department has ordered the departure of the families of US diplomats who are not employed by the embassy in Beirut, and of non-essential employees, due to the "volatile and unpredictable security situation" in Lebanon's capital.
Air raid sirens sounded across central Israel, including at the Tel Aviv international airport, shortly after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu landed from a trip to the US.The Israeli military said a missile launched from Yemen was intercepted shortly after the sirens were heard. There were no reports of injuries.
Later on Saturday Yemen's Houthi rebels said they'd targeted the airport. The Iranian-backed fighters said Nasrallah’s death won’t deter Hezbollah or other Iranian-backed groups fighting against “the Israeli enemy.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned what he called Israel’s “savage attacks” that have killed hundreds of Lebanese people, and urged Muslim countries to “exhibit a more determined stance against these attacks”.
Meanwhile Iran’s reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian accused the US of being involved in the attack.“The world community will not forget that the order of the terrorist strike was issued from New York and the Americans cannot absolve themselves from complicity with the Zionists,” he said in a statement read on Iranian state television. While no one in the White House shed any tears over the death of Nasrallah, Biden was quick to alert the public he hadn't received any advance warning of the attack and wasn't involved.
For Biden, the moment amounts to another high-tension balancing act — this time, only six weeks before a US presidential election. Ahead of Friday’s strike, Netanyahu brushed off a ceasefire proposal brokered by the United States and France that called for a 21-day pause in fighting across the Israel-Lebanon border, infuriating American officials who had been led to believe he was on board.
In a strong statement, President Joe Biden said the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah was a 'measure of justice'. But ITV News Correspondent Robert Moore says the move could push Hezbollah's backer, Iran, into finally finishing its nuclear weapons programme
Israel informed the US it was launching its major operation in Beirut only after it was underway — to the frustration of some American officials, who have grown weary at what they view as repeated examples of Netanyahu defying Biden’s public and private entreaties for restraint.Speaking to reporters in Delaware on Friday, Biden emphasised he knew little about the operation and said he is "always concerned" that a "wider conflict could be on the horizon". The American position for now is to be prepared for a range of possible retaliations — if and when they come — but whether such retaliation would come from Hezbollah, Iran or both was unknowable for now.One fear among US intelligence circles is that Iran will respond to the destruction of its proxy armies by completing its nuclear weapons programme, in order to re-establish its dominance in the region. However, on the question of a more immediate war involving Iran, the Islamic Republic "understands that its military options are limited, given the conventional military superiority of Israel and the US," said Thomas Juneau, a professor at the University of Ottawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.
Nonetheless, the latest strikes have raised fears of an full-scale conflict between Israel and Lebanon, with British officials reiterating Foreign Secretary's message to the UN earlier this week, in which he called for a ceasefire and a political solution.
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Lebanon’s health minister says 1,030 people have been killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon in less than two weeks, more than in the previous 11 months.Health Minister Firass Abiad says the toll includes 156 women and 87 children. A total of 1,640 people in Lebanon have died since Hezbollah began firing rockets over the border into Israel in support of Hamas, the day after the October 7 attacks. The health ministry counted 11 people killed and 108 wounded on Friday, but said the true toll may be higher.
Israel has dramatically escalated strikes, saying it is targeting Hezbollah’s military capacities and senior Hezbollah commanders.
Top Israeli officials have threatened to repeat the destruction of Gaza in Lebanon if the Hezbollah fire continues, raising fears that Israel’s actions in Gaza since October 7 would be repeated in Lebanon.
On Friday, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin warned of “devastating” consequences if Israel engages in an all-out war with Hezbollah, telling CNN that casualties would “equal or exceed” the number in Gaza.
“An all-out war between Lebanese, Hezbollah and Israel would be devastating for both Lebanon and Israel. And again, we anticipate that we’d see a number of people displaced, casualties that, you know, equal or exceed what we’ve seen in Gaza,” Austin said.
In the UK, British nationals in Lebanon have been urged to leave the country immediately.
In a statement on Friday evening, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said “British nationals in Lebanon should leave now”, adding: “You should take the next available flight. We are working to increase capacity and secure seats for British nationals to leave.”
The FCDO said British nationals in the country should register their presence on the department’s website in order to stay up to date with the latest information.
Around 5,000 British citizens are in Lebanon, and the United Nations said 118,000 Lebanese people have been displaced in recent days.
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