New escalation in Lebanon: Israel steps up its strikes after the death of Hassan Nasrallah

Key facts:
The day after the elimination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, Israel continued its military operations against the Lebanese Shiite movement. On Saturday 28 September, the Israeli army announced that it was carrying out a ‘precision strike’ in the heart of Dahiyeh, the district in the southern suburbs of Beirut considered to be Hezbollah’s stronghold. The previous day, a massive bombardment had targeted the movement’s headquarters, killing Nasrallah. Israel’s Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, described the operation as one of the ‘most legitimate anti-terrorist measures taken by Israel’.

Reactions and consequences:

Iran, a major ally of Hezbollah, was quick to react to the offensive, saying that ‘the glorious lineage of the leader of the resistance, Hassan Nasrallah, will continue.’ Another senior Iranian official, Abbas Nilforoushan, Brigadier-General of the Revolutionary Guards, was also killed in the same attack. This information was confirmed by the official Iranian news agency IRNA, which said that Nilforoushan ‘fell as a martyr alongside Hassan Nasrallah’.

Israel claims major successes:

According to the Israeli army, these strikes seriously weakened Hezbollah’s command structures. ‘Most of the senior leaders have been eliminated,’ said an IDF spokesman. Among the victims, Israel identified Ali Karaké, head of Hezbollah’s southern front, as well as several other commanders killed in the same raid that claimed Nasrallah’s life.

A series of intensive bombardments:

Since Friday evening, more than 140 targets linked to Hezbollah have been hit by Israeli strikes. The attacks have been concentrated in the Bekaa region, in eastern Lebanon, as well as in various areas of southern Lebanon. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), more than 50,000 people have already fled to Syria to escape the hostilities, said High Commissioner Filippo Grandi.

Hezbollah’s response:

In response to the Israeli bombardments, Hezbollah fired several rockets into northern Israel on Saturday. In a press release, the movement claimed to have targeted Kibbutz Kabri with Fadi-1 rockets, in retaliation for the ‘brutal attacks carried out against towns, villages and civilians in Lebanon’.

The escalation of violence between Israel and Hezbollah raises fears of a further deterioration in the situation in the Middle East, at a time when the international community is calling for restraint to avoid a generalised conflagration in the region