Middle East: Hezbollah's Nasrallah dead in Israeli airstrike

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that a dozen pro-Iranian fighters have been killed in strikes in eastern Syria, while a large number of people have been injured.

"Twelve pro-Iranian fighters were killed in airstrikes of unknown origin targeting their positions in the city of Deir Ezzor and to the east of the city, as well as the Boukamal region, near the border with Iraq," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. 

The war monitor said that it was not clear who was responsible for carrying out the attacks, but that five of the strikes had targeted military positions near Deir Ezzor airport.

Iran has been providing military aid to Syrian President Bashar Assad since the civil war there began in 2011, while Israel is believed to have carried out hundreds of strikes targeting pro-Iranian groups in eastern Syria. The United States has also targeted such groups in the country's east.

US President Joe Biden said it was time for an end to hostilities when asked by reporters if an Israeli ground invasion in Lebanon was inevitable.

"It's time for a cease-fire," Biden told reporters in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

When asked whether the US would respond to missile attacks on US naval vessels in the Red Sea, Biden said: "We’re responding."

Before Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in Friday’s airstrike in Beirut, there had been growing international calls for a cease-fire amid mounting fears of a larger regional conflict.

Thirty-three people were killed in Lebanon from Israeli strikes on Saturday, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry.

Another 195 people were wounded, the ministry said.

The ministry had earlier said that 1,030 people had been killed between September 16 and 27.

A projectile fired from Lebanon crashed in the occupied West Bank, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

"The fallen projectile was identified in the area of Mitzpe Hagit," the IDF said.

"Israeli Fire and Rescue services are currently operating to extinguish fires caused by the fallen projectile in the area."

Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service said that there were no casualties.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot called for Israel to cease strikes on Lebanon following talks with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati.

Barrot said that France wants "an immediate halt to Israeli strikes in Lebanon" and "condemns any indiscriminate action targeting civilians," according to a ministry statement.

He also said that Paris opposes any Israeli ground operations in Lebanon.

"[France] calls on other actors, notably Hezbollah and Iran, to abstain from any action that could lead to additional destabilisation and regional conflagration," he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah could change the balance of power in the Middle East.

"Nasrallah was not a terrorist, he was the terrorist," Netanyahu said.

"Nasrallah's killing was a necessary step toward achieving the goals we have set, returning residents of the north safely to their homes and changing the balance of power in the region for years to come," he said.

Netanyahu claimed that Nasrallah was "the architect" of a plan to "annihilate" Israel.

He said that while Israel had "settled the score" by killing Nasrallah, it will continue to face challenges in the coming days.

The address comes a day after Netanyahu spoke at the UN General Assembly in New York and vowed to continue hitting Hezbollah.

US Vice President Kamala Harris called slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah a "terrorist with American blood on his hands."

At the same time, she stressed that she and US President Joe Biden "do not want to see conflict in the Middle East escalate into a broader regional war."

"Diplomacy remains the best path forward to protect civilians and achieve lasting stability in the region," she said.

The statement comes shortly after Biden called the killing of Nasrallah a "measure of justice for his many victims."

Yemen's Houthi militants said that they fired a missile at Ben Gurion International Airport near the coastal Israeli city of Tel Aviv.

They said the attack was timed to coincide with the arrival of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who returned to Israel after speaking at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

The Israeli military said that it had intercepted the missile.

It comes a day after the Houthis fired another missile on Israel, which was also intercepted.

The Houthis earlier said they were mourning the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The Houthis and Hezbollah are both supported by Iran and oppose Israel.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati has declared three days of official mourning for Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, the official NNA news agency said.

Flags will be flown at half-mast over public and municipal institutions on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Mikati said that TV and radio stations will modify their programming to reflect the "painful event."

He said that work at all public and private institutions will be halted on the day of Nasrallah's funeral.

Iraq and Iran have also declared 3-day mourning periods following Nasrallah's death.

US President Joe Biden said Hassan Nasrallah and Hezbollah were responsible for killing hundreds of Americans, calling his death in an Israeli airstrike "a measure of justice for his many victims, including thousands of Americans, Israelis, and Lebanese civilians."

Biden urged that the strike that killed Nasrallah be seen in the broader context of the conflict that began when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2003. "Nasrallah, the next day, made the fateful decision to join hands with Hamas and open what he called a 'northern front' against Israel," the US president said in a statement.

Biden reiterated that "the United States fully supports Israel's right to defend itself against Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and any other Iranian-backed terrorist groups."

He also said he had directed the "Secretary of Defense to further enhance the defense posture of US military forces in the Middle East region to deter aggression and reduce the risk of a broader regional war."

Ultimately, Biden said, the US aims to de-escalate the ongoing conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon through diplomatic means and to bring greater stability to the broader Middle East region. Previous calls from Washington to end operations in Gaza and Lebanon have been rejected by Israel.

The Israeli military said it killed a senior Hezbollah intelligence operative in a strike in southern Beirut. It identified him as Hassan Khalil Yassin.

Earlier, the Israeli military said it had carried out a "precision strike" in the Dahiyeh neighborhood of Beirut, a day after a strike in the area killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.

The Israeli military has repeatedly attacked the densely populated area south of Beirut since Friday. It is considered a Hezbollah stronghold.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has described the situation in the Middle East following the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah as "extremely dangerous" and criticized Israel's actions.

"There is a risk of destabilizing the whole of Lebanon. And that is in no way in Israel's security interest," the minister told German public broadcaster ARD. 

There is also a danger that the entire region will be dragged into "a spiral of violence," she said. That is why Germany, together with the United States, France and several Arab countries, issued a call on Thursday for a 21-day cease-fire in the Middle East in order to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict. 

But the exact opposite has now happened, Baerbock said. "And now, with the latest reports, it has to be said clearly: The military logic is one thing, in terms of destroying the Hezbollah terrorists. But the security logic is something else," she added.

The death toll from Israeli attacks in Lebanon continues to rise, officials said on Saturday. 

In less than two weeks, between September 16 and 27, 1,030 people were killed in Israeli attacks in Lebanon, Health Minister Firass Abiad said. He added that the toll included 156 women and 87 children. 

This marked a significant jump in a short amount of time. The total death toll in Lebanon since hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel began on October 7 was 1,640, including 104 children and 194 women. A total of 8,408 people were injured.

Authorities expect the toll to rise as people are still buried under the rubble.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said on Saturday he had spoken twice with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Galant the previous day about events in Lebanon.

Austin assured Israel of full US support in the fight against "Iranian-backed terrorist groups," he wrote on X. He did not mention the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli strike on Friday.

"I stressed that the United States is determined to prevent Iran and Iranian-backed partners and proxies from exploiting the situation or expanding the conflict," Austin said.

The Secretary also made clear that the United States remains prepared to protect US forces and facilities in the region and is committed to Israel's defense.

The US military has beefed up its presence in the region and until recently had deployed two aircraft carriers to deter Iran from taking any action against Israel. There are also several other warships that are stationed close to the region.

The death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah doesn't mean the Lebanese group is finished, Laura Blumenfeld, a senior fellow at Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies, told DW.

"This is a game changer but it isn't game over. Israel took out the man but not the missiles," Blumenfeld said. "They still have a potent arsenal of precision-guided missiles aimed at Israeli population centers."

The analyst said that it was not Hamas, but rather Hezbollah and its stockpile of weapons that been the main concern for Israel's military leaders for the past decade.

"So if [Hezbollah] has some kind of succession in place, they can still really present a deadly threat to Israel," Blumenfeld said, if anyone is indeed willing to lead considering Israel's attacks on Hezbollah leaders.

"Lebanon in the Israeli consciousness is like Vietnam in the US. It's synonymous with a long, miserable slog which ultimately ends in a draw at best, or perhaps even a loss," the analyst said, adding that Israelis learnt a hard lesson from their invasions in 1982 and 2006. 

Blumenfeld pointed out, however, that Israel's goal is to wipe out Hezbollah so that it can bring back to the north the people who were evacuated because of Hezbollah attacks.

"I think they'd like to avoid that ground war, but on the other hand they believe that threatening and mobilizing a potential for the ground war would eventually bring them around to peace," she added.