Israel bombs “dozens of targets” in Lebanon after Nasrallah’s assassination | Attacks between Israel and Lebanon News

Following the assassination of group leader Hassan Nasrallah in a southern Beirut suburb, the Israeli military said it carried out dozens of airstrikes across Lebanon against Hezbollah.

At least 11 people were killed in an airstrike on a house in the town of Ain in the Bekaa Valley in the northeast, according to the Lebanese National News Agency.

Hezbollah confirmed on Saturday that Nasrallah was killed a day earlier in an Israeli strike in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiya, a major blow to the group that has been fighting with Israel since last October. Hezbollah began firing rockets at Israel in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. The group has made a ceasefire in Gaza a condition to stop its cross-border attacks.

The Israeli military said in a statement on the messaging app Telegram on Sunday that its air forces had struck “dozens of terrorist targets” in Lebanon in recent hours, hitting “buildings where the organization's weapons and military structures are stored.”

Al Jazeera's Imran Khan, reporting from Marjayoun in southern Lebanon, said a civil defense center was hit in a small town just outside Tire governorate, killing four people and wounding several others.

“Questions are being asked as to why this particular fire department was actually attacked. It is also affiliated with the Islamic Scout Association, so it has the feel of a community center,” he said.

“Overnight we saw several airstrikes around southern Lebanon. Israel is not letting up its pressure at all.”

Israel, which has devastated Gaza in 11 months of relentless bombardment, launched an offensive in Lebanon on Monday after months of deadly border crossings. The killing of Nasrallah on Friday is a dramatic escalation of the conflict between the two sides.

Israel's strategy

Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon killed 33 people on Saturday, bringing the total death toll to more than 700 since the bombing of Hezbollah strongholds began last week, according to the Health Ministry.

A total of 1,640 people have been killed in Lebanon since October 8, including 104 children and 194 women, most of them in Israeli strikes in the last two weeks.

The killing of Nasrallah, who led Hezbollah for more than 30 years and turned the Lebanese group into a powerful fighting force, is one of the worst blows Israel has ever dealt to Hezbollah.

Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr reported from Beirut that Hezbollah is at a turning point, “both at the organizational level and at the population level.”

“There is no doubt that Hassan Nasrallah was considered arguably the most powerful man in Lebanon, even though he did not hold public office,” she said. “Hezbollah must demonstrate that its command and control structure is intact and that its leadership remains functional.

“Israel’s strategy was to overthrow Hezbollah’s leadership.”

An Israeli invasion of Lebanon?

Israel has hinted at launching a ground attack into Lebanon as its army chief Herzi Halevi said on Saturday his forces were prepared for what was coming and Lebanese residents were told to seek safety. Almost a million people have fled southern Lebanon due to Israeli bombardment.

For the first time since Nasrallah's assassination, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there were now two war targets for northern Israel on the border with Lebanon.

The first is to return evacuated Israelis to northern cities and settlements. The second is to restore the balance of power on the northern border, Al Jazeera's Hamdah Salhut reported.

“Israeli officials said throughout the day on Saturday that they were determined to destroy Hezbollah and all of its military capabilities. “The Chief of Staff of the Israeli Army, together with Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, approved new plans for offensive strategies in the north,” Salhut said.

“This comes amid fears of an impending ground invasion in southern Lebanon – something that is causing great anxiety on both sides of the border.”

Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden said on Saturday it was time for a ceasefire.

Asked by reporters in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware whether an Israeli ground attack on Lebanon was inevitable, Biden replied: “It's time for a ceasefire.”

Asked whether the US would respond to missile attacks on its warships in the Red Sea, Biden said: “We are responding.”

Al Jazeera's Shihab Rattansi reported from Washington, DC that Biden's statement raises several questions.

“When he says he is for a ceasefire, does he mean a complete ceasefire? Does he accept what Hezbollah has long said – that residents of northern Israel can return to their homes if Israel stops the destruction of Gaza? Or does he accept Israel's argument that the only way to de-escalate is through escalation? There are reportedly supporters of this strategy in the government,” Rattansi said.

“We heard that the government was against an Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon, but then we kept hearing that the government said it was against the actions that Israel took afterwards.”

On Friday, Yemen's Houthi rebels reported attacks on the Israeli cities of Tel Aviv and Ashkelon as well as on three US Navy warships with missiles and drones.

The Houthis have repeatedly fired on Israel and carried out numerous attacks on Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait since November, in what they describe as a campaign of solidarity with Palestinians attacked by Israel Gaza Strip.