Middle East: 'Short-range projectile' killed Haniyeh — Iran

Americans in Lebanon were urged by the US embassy in Beirut to leave on "any ticket available," as concerns grow about larger conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

"Commercial transportation options to leave Lebanon remain available", the embassy statement said, despite several international airlines suspending flights to Israel this week, including Germany's Lufthansa and Air France.

"We encourage those who wish to depart Lebanon to book any ticket available to them, even if that flight does not depart immediately or does not follow their first-choice route," the embassy said.

Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy reminded people online of the existing UK guidelines advising against travel and advising British nationals in Lebanon to leave.

The Iran-backed Hezbollah group, which is based in Lebanon and plays an important part in that country's politics, regularly traded fire with Israel across the shared border and did so even before the October 7 attack on Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas. But recently these attacks have increased. The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project monitoring group reports that between October 8 and July 5 this year, Israel, Hezbollah and other armed groups in Lebanon exchanged at least 7,491 attacks across the border. The data indicates that Israel had carried out around five times as many attacks as Hezbollah.

Tehran said Saturday it expects Hezbollah will begin hitting deeper inside Israel.

The likelihood of a wider conflict has grown after Hamas' political leader Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah military commander Fouad Shukur were killed this week.

Israel has not commented on Haniyeh's death but claimed responsibility for the strike that killed Shukur.

Both Hamas and Hezbollah have been labeled terrorist organizations by the US, Israel and Germany. 

Hamas' political chief Ismail Haniyeh was killed by a "short-range projectile" launched from outside of his accommodation in Tehran, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said.

"This terrorist operation was carried out by firing a short-range projectile with a warhead of about 7 kilograms — causing a strong explosion — from outside the accommodation area," the Guards said in a statement. 

The Guards again blamed Israel for Haniyeh's killing, adding that it was "supported by the United States."

The statement said that Haniyeh's death would be avenged and that Israel would receive "a severe punishment at the appropriate time, place and manner."

Israel has not claimed responsibility for Haniyeh's killing, which happened Wednesday in the Iranian capital, after he attended the swearing-in of Iran's new president, Masoud Pezeshkian. 

His death sparked fears that Israel's military campaign against Hamas in Gaza and the conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon could turn into a larger regional conflict with Iran.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said the prospect of sending German soldiers to the Middle East to protect Israel was "completely inconceivable to me right now."

He was answering a question about whether Germany, like the United States, might deploy forces in areas near Israel. 

The United States on Friday said that additional warships and fighter jets would be sent to the region to protect US forces and defend Israel.

Speaking on the sidelines of a visit to South Korea, Pistorius said any army personnel support would require a mandate from the lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, "so the question does not arise at all at the moment."

The minister said Berlin was assessing the situation in the Middle East on a daily basis, after threats from Iran and allied groups  against Israel for the killings of Hamas' political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukur in Beirut.

Israel has claimed responsibility for Shukur's killing but has not commented on Haniyeh's killing.

"We are preparing for what might come our way, such as an evacuation. But at the moment we are only in the preparation phase, not in the action phase," Pistorius said.

Israel conducted a drone strike on a vehicle in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, killing five, including a Hamas commander, Palestinian media reported.

The Israeli military said in a brief statement on X, formerly Twitter, that it had struck a "terrorist cell" in the city of Tulkarm.

"An IDF [military] aircraft struck a vehicle and terrorist cell operating within the area of Tulkarm," the IDF said.

Hamas media confirmed the attack, saying that a vehicle carrying one of the commanders of the Tulkarm brigade and other fighters had been hit. 

Palestinian news agency WAFA reported four other unidentified men were also killed, citing health officials.

After the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Hezbollah leader Fuad Shukr near Beirut earlier this week, tensions have soared in the Middle East, with growing fears over a confrontation between Israel, Iran and the latter's allies.

The United States will deploy more warships and fighter jets to bolster its military presence in the Middle East, protect US personnel and defend Israel, the Pentagon said on Friday.

"The Department of Defense continues to take steps to mitigate the possibility of regional escalation by Iran or Iran's partners and proxies. Since the horrific Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, the Secretary of Defense has reiterated that the United States will protect our personnel and interests in the region, including our ironclad commitment to the defense of Israel," Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said in a statement.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also ordered additional ballistic missile defense-capable cruisers and destroyers to Europe and the Middle East, the Pentagon said.

The statement comes soon after the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut. This prompted Iran and its regional allies to vow to retaliate, causing concerns about further escalations in the Middle East.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that Israel's military on Friday conducted airstrikes on Hezbollah militia targets in the border region between Lebanon and Syria. 

A source close to Hezbollah told the AFP news agency that a convoy of trucks entering Lebanon from Syria had been targeted. "Three Israeli strikes targeted a convoy of tanker trucks on the Syrian-Lebanese border," the source said, adding that one Syrian driver was injured.

The war monitor's head, Rami Abdel Rahman, told the DPA news agency that the airstrikes hit a weapons depot and a Hezbollah headquarters in the region. 

Israel is yet to comment on the strikes. On Friday, Lebanese Hezbollah had claimed responsibility for five attacks on Israel's military.

The two sides have exchanged fire often following the start of the Israeli military's retaliatory offensive in Gaza after a cross-border attack by Hamas on October 7.

tg/sms (AP, AFP, DPA, Reuters)