Israeli raids in Beirut, Nasrallah’s successor in the sights. Hezbollah rockets on Haifa

Israeli night air attacks on Beirut they targeted a meeting at which Nasrallah’s likely successor, Hashem Safieddine, he was participating with other top Hezbollah leaders, who responded with rocket attacks on Haifa. The New York Times writes this, citing three anonymous Israeli officials, specifying that the meeting took place in an underground bunker in the Dahiyeh neighborhood. It is not yet clear whether Safieddine was injured in the Israeli raid, which was reported by local media as one of the heaviest in the last year. The news is also reported by the Times of Israel newspaper, a few hours after the long-awaited funeral of the deceased Hezbollah leader in Tehran, Hassan Nasrallah, killed by Israeli bombs on 27 September.

Around 100 Hezbollah militants have been killed during Israeli operations in southern Lebanon in recent days, say Tel Aviv forces, who report having also found dozens of weapons left by Hezbollah during operations in villages in southern Lebanon. The army released a video showing anti-tank missile launchers, ammunition and other weapons found in homes in a village in southern Lebanon by troops of the 188 Armored Brigade.

No casualties in Hezbollah attack

Meanwhile, around 20 rockets were fired from Lebanon towards northern Israel today, most of which were intercepted. The Israel Defense Forces declared this in a statement, without recording casualties. After activating air raid sirens in the Haifa area of ​​northern Israel, “they were approximately 20 launches detected who crossed Lebanese territory. Most of the launches were intercepted by the air force, the rest fell in an open area,” the IDF said. The IDF also said that “several projectiles” were fired from Lebanon in the area of ​​Alta Galilee, most of which were intercepted.

Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the attack on northern Israel, saying its fighters targeted the city of Haifa with rockets in the morning. A statement from the Lebanese armed group on Telegram said the attack was carried out at 7am (0400 GMT) in response to Israeli raids against Lebanese and Palestinians, praising their “courageous and honorable resistance”. At the moment there are no reports of any deaths, injuries or damage.

In these hours the head of Iranian diplomacy, Abbas Araghchi, arrived in Beirut, reports the Lebanese national news agency, underlining that this is the first visit to Lebanon by a senior Iranian official since the assassination of Nasrallah, last September 27 . His funeral will be celebrated today in Tehran.

Waiting for Khamenei’s sermon

Also today the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will lead the weekly high prayer and will deliver a sermon that could set the tone for Iran’s plans after Tuesday’s missile attack on Israel. This speech also comes three days before the first anniversary of the unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on Israeli soil, which sparked the war in the Gaza Strip, on October 7, 2023. Khamenei, the ultimate decider of the main issues of the Islamic Republic, it could shed light on the follow-up that Tehran intends to give to the attack, during which around 200 missiles were launched against Israel.

The Revolutionary Guards explained that the operation was in retaliation for the assassination of Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and one of his commanders, Abbas Nilforoushan, in an Israeli attack in Beirut on September 27. The objective was also to avenge the death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, which occurred on July 31 in Tehran, in an attack that Iran and the Palestinian Islamist movement blamed on Israel.

According to Ayatollah Khamenei’s website, Friday prayers will be preceded by a “commemoration ceremony” in honor of Hassan Nasrallah. This will take place at 10:30 local time in the Mosalla Grand Mosque, in the center of the Iranian capital. The last time Khamenei led Friday prayers was in January 2020, after an Iranian missile attack on two bases hosting Americans in Iraq, in retaliation for the American drone strike that had just killed General Iranian Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Guardians.

“We can avoid” a ‘total war’ in the Middle East, said US President Joe Biden, asked on the topic at a time when the international community fears large-scale conflict in the region. “I don’t think there will be a total war. I think we can avoid it. But there is still a lot to do,” he told the press.

Eighteen dead in a raid on a refugee camp in the West Bank

Meanwhile, according to what was declared by the Palestinian Minister of Health, at least 18 people were killed yesterday in the Tulkarm refugee camp in the West Bank, following an air attack which, according to the Israeli army, killed a local Hamas leader. A Palestinian security source told AFP that the airstrike was the deadliest in the West Bank since 2000. “Eighteen martyrs following the bombing of Tulkarm camp by the occupation,” the Palestinian Health Ministry said on its Telegram account. The Israeli military confirmed the attack on the city in the northern West Bank, describing it as a joint operation conducted by the Shin Bet internal security service and the air force, according to a brief army statement. The Israeli military later said the attack had Hamas leader killed in Tulkarm, Zahi Yaser Abd al-Razeq Oufi.

Lebanon-Syria border, new Israeli attacks

In the early hours of the day, an Israeli attack hit the area near the Masnaa border crossing in Lebanon with Syria. This was reported by the Lebanese Minister of Transport, Ali Hamieh, specifying that the damage caused by the bombs caused the interruption of a road used by hundreds of thousands of people to escape the Israeli bombing of Lebanon. At the moment there is no news of any deaths or injuries. Lebanese Transport Minister Ali Hamieh also reported a four-metre wide crater that had been created along the transit road to Syria, on the Lebanese side of the border, interrupting the transit of thousands of fleeing civilians.

The Israeli attack was justified by a military spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces, accusing the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah of using the crossing to transport military equipment into Lebanon. “The IDF will not allow the smuggling of these weapons and will not hesitate to act if forced to do so, as it has done throughout this war,” IDF spokesperson Avichay Adraee said in a post on X.