Israel confirmed the death of another Hezbollah commander, a target attack in Yemen

The Israeli military said on Sunday that it killed another Hezbollah official in an airstrike, as the terrorist group in Lebanon reels from a string of devastating blows and airstrikes. assassinated its longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

The Israel Defense Forces said it killed Nabil Kaouk, the deputy head of Hezbollah’s Central Province, in an airstrike on Saturday. Hezbollah confirmed his death, making him the seventh senior Hezbollah leader killed in an Israeli strike in a week. They are among the founding members who have avoided death or detention for decades.

Kaouk is a veteran member of Hezbollah back to the 1980s and was Hezbollah’s military commander in southern Lebanon during the 2006 war with Israel. He often appeared in local media, where he would comment on political and security developments, and deliver eulogies at the funerals of senior militants. The United States announced sanctions against him in 2020.

The announcement of Kaouk’s death came a day after the Israeli military said it was killed Nasrallah in an air strike on Saturday afternoon in Beirut. On Sunday, Hezbollah confirmed that among those killed in the airstrike was Ali Karaki, one of the group’s senior commanders.

The Israeli military also said on Sunday that dozens of planes struck Houthi targets in Yemen in response to the militants’ recent attacks on Israel.

President Biden said he will speak with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and that he believes an all-out war in the Middle East should be avoided.

“Of course,” Mr. Biden told reporters Sunday as he boarded Air Force One for Washington. “We really need to avoid it.”

He would not say when he plans to speak with Netanyahu.

Biden says Nasrallah’s death is a “measure of justice”

On Saturday, Biden said Nasrallah‘s death in an Israeli airstrike was a “a measure of justice” for his many victims.

In a statement released by the White House, Mr. Biden said “Nasrallah and the terrorist group he leads, Hezbollah, are responsible for killing hundreds of Americans during their forty-year reign of terror,” including thousands of Israeli and Lebanese civilians.

When asked by reporters Saturday if an Israeli ground attack on Lebanon was inevitable, Mr. Biden replied, “it’s time for a cease-fire.”

some A senior Hezbollah commander has been killed in the Israeli attack in recent weeks. The US designated terrorist group is also targeted by sophisticated attacks on a page and walkie-talkie which is widely blamed in Israel.

Thousands of people in shelters after the attack

A wave of Israeli airstrikes in large parts of Lebanon have killed more than 1,000 people – including 156 women and 87 children – in less than two weeks, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Health.

Earlier on Monday, another Israeli air strike hit an apartment building in central Beirut, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene. Video shows ambulances and crowds gathering near buildings in a predominantly Sunni district with busy streets lined with shops.

The airstrikes killed at least one person and wounded 16, said a Lebanese Civil Defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. He said those killed were members of al-Jamaa al-Islamiya, or the Islamic Group, a Sunni political and militant group allied with Hezbollah.

Hezbollah continues to fire rockets and missiles into northern Israel, but most have been intercepted or landed in open areas, causing few casualties and only scattered damage.

The Lebanese cabinet minister leading the country’s emergency response said the government estimated that around 250,000 people had left their homes and taken refuge in government-run and informal shelters.

Environment Minister Nasser Yassin told the Associated Press that the total number is about “four times more affected and/or displaced outside shelters.”

The United Nations said that as of Friday, 211,319 people had been forced to move, and it was before several intensive Israeli airstrikes on the southern outskirts of Beirut in recent days.

The Lebanese government has turned schools and other facilities into temporary shelters. However, many are sleeping on the streets or in public squares, as the government and non-governmental organizations try to find places to stay.

The fighting escalated as the airstrikes continued

Amid the escalation from Israel – which is said to be sending ground troops to the border with Lebanon for the possibility of a limited ground attack next week, according to US officials – the Lebanese military called for calm among the Lebanese people “at this dangerous and delicate stage.”

Government officials fear that the country’s deep political divide during the war could fuel sectarian strife and violence in the small Mediterranean nation.

“Israel’s enemies are working on destructive plans and spreading division among the Lebanese people,” the military said.

Military vehicles have been deployed in various areas of the capital as thousands of displaced people continue to move from the south to Beirut.

Meanwhile, Lebanon’s state news agency said an Israeli airstrike on Sunday destroyed a house in the northeastern village of al-Ain, killing 11 people. Six of the bodies were recovered from under the rubble as the search continues for the remaining five, the National News Agency reported.

A series of attacks on Sunday in Ain el-Delb, east of Sidon, were caught on camera by neighbors in the area. The Health Ministry said the attack also killed at least 29 people.

Separately, the Health Ministry said an Israeli attack in the northern province of Baalbek Hermel killed 21 people and injured at least 47.

In southern Lebanon, the Risala Islamic Scouts Association said five of its members were killed in the line of duty. It said four of the dead were from the southern village of Tayr Debba, while the fifth was from nearby Kabrikha.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel after an Oct. 7 Hamas attack from Gaza sparked fighting there. Hezbollah and Hamas are allies that see themselves as part of the Iranian-backed “Axis of Resistance” against Israel.

Israel has responded with a wave of airstrikes, and the conflict has escalated to the brink of all-out war, raising fears of a conflagration in the region.

A senior Israeli official said on Friday that Israel was not seeking a wider regional war but that Hezbollah’s military capabilities had been severely damaged by a series of recent Israeli military operations and the purpose of this attack to leave Hezbollah with a significant leadership gap.

Israel strikes Houthi targets in Yemen

Israel’s military said on Sunday it had targeted a power plant and a seaport facility in the Yemeni city of Hodeida.

The Houthi media office said the Israeli strikes hit the ports of Hodeida and Rass Issa along with two power plants in the city of Hodeida, which is a stronghold for the Iran-backed rebels. Flames and plumes of smoke could be seen in the air over Hodeida after the attack.

The group said it had taken preventive measures and that the Israeli attack would not stop Houthi attacks on shipping routes and in Israel.

The Houthis launched a ballistic missile attack on Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Saturday as Netanyahu arrived on a plane from the United States.