The killing on Friday of Hezbollah’s leader by Israeli forces prompted celebrations across the globe, confirming that Israel is not alone in seeing the terror group as an existential threat.
After news broke of the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah—who Benjamin Netanyahu said was “not a terrorist, he was the terrorist”—and much of the team around him, jubilant civilians gathered in the northern Syrian city of Idlib, honking horns and handing out sweets. Iranians also came together outside the Israeli embassy in London to thank Israel for its action.
While Iran has announced five days of public mourning to mark the terrorist’s death, reports also say that women in Iran, keen to hide their identity, welcomed the news of his demise.
Israel has since launched its first air strikes on Beirut, having previously targeted only the Lebanon capital’s periphery, and has sent commandos to conduct special forces raids in the country ahead of a possible ground invasion against Hezbollah fighters.
Israeli attacks on other Iranian proxies have also intensified, including against Houthi-backed rebels in Yemen, who were struck on Sunday.
Despite earlier equivocation, U.S. president Joe Biden described Israel’s assissination of Nasrallah as “justice” for his many victims, and stressed that Washington “fully supports Israel’s right to defend itself.”
American officials have likewise announced that their air support capabilities in the Middle East are being increased, and that U.S. troops have been put on a heightened readiness to be deployed in the region. Iran, the Pentagon warned, must not further stoke tensions:
The United States is determined to prevent Iran and Iranian-backed partners and proxies from exploiting the situation or expanding the conflict.
Netanyahu expressed hope that the killing of Nasrallah and other leading figures from Hezbollah will pressure Hamas to free Israeli hostages being held in Gaza, while his team also used the strikes to highlight how the terrorist group “hides among civilians, endangering the lives of the people of Lebanon.” It said that Hezbollah’s underground headquarters was located just 53 metres away from a United Nations school.
Israeli foreign minister David Saranga also pointed to reports that the assassinated leader of Hamas Lebanon was also the head of the United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) teachers’ association in Lebanon. Western leaders have previously chosen to overlook Israel’s claim that the U.N. agency has been infiltrated by Hamas and has provided its terrorists with funding.
An Israeli ground incursion into Lebanon could begin as early as this week, according to The Wall Street Journal.
