Israel continues strikes in Lebanon as fears grow of broader conflict

The Israeli military continued airstrikes against Lebanon early Sunday, a day after the Hezbollah militant group confirmed the killing of its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, as fears deepened of a wider conflict in the region.

Israeli warplanes “attacked dozens of terrorist targets in Lebanese territory in recent hours,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a post on social media early Sunday. The IDF said the targets included launchers aimed at Israeli territory and sites where weapons were being stored.

Lebanon-based Hezbollah confirmed on Saturday that Nasrallah, its leader since 1992, had been killed in an Israeli airstrike on Friday. The Iran-backed militant group vowed to “continue the holy war” against Israel, while Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Nasrallah’s killing “shall not go unavenged.”  

The IDF later Sunday said that another senior Hezbollah official, Nabil Qaouk, was killed Saturday night in an airstrike in Beirut. The IDF said Qaouk was the commander of the militant group’s preventive security unit and a senior member of its executive council.

The Middle East is bracing for possible retaliation for the killing of Nasrallah, a dramatic escalation of the conflict roiling the region. Some countries have urged their citizens to leave Lebanon, as fears grow of a possible Israeli ground invasion.

The Israeli military has attacked hundreds of Hezbollah targets throughout Lebanon in recent days, the IDF said, as it seeks to disable the group’s operations and infrastructure. The strikes  have killed more than 30 people and wounded almost 200, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.

“The IDF continues to attack and eliminate the commanders of the terrorist organization Hezbollah, and to act against anyone who threatens the citizens of the State of Israel,” the IDF said.

Hezbollah began a campaign of cross-border strikes on Israel a day after its Palestinian ally Hamas staged its unprecedented attack on Israel last October, killing 1,200 people and triggering the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military said last week that it was preparing for a possible occupation of territory in Lebanon, and has sent two brigades to northern Israel to train for a potential ground invasion.