Israel has reported the elimination of a top Hezbollah intelligence commander, Hassan Khalil Yassin, in an airstrike on Beirut's southern suburbs on Saturday. According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Yassin was responsible for leading a unit within Hezbollah’s intelligence division, tasked with identifying Israeli military and civilian targets. He was closely linked to Hezbollah's missile and drone units and had reportedly been involved in terror operations targeting Israeli civilians and soldiers since the onset of the conflict.
The IDF stated that Yassin had also been planning additional attacks on Israel in the coming days. This announcement followed just hours after Israel confirmed the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a separate airstrike on Beirut.
Following Nasrallah’s death, protests erupted in Iran, where demonstrators carried portraits of the Hezbollah leader and chanted slogans demanding revenge. Calls of “Down with Israel” and “Down with the US” echoed in the streets, and Iran has since called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. Lebanon declared a three-day mourning period in response to Nasrallah's death.
In Israel, sirens sounded across multiple regions after the announcement of Nasrallah’s death. A projectile fired from Lebanon landed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, though no casualties were reported. Sirens were also triggered near Jerusalem due to another launch from Lebanon, according to Israeli officials.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed Nasrallah's death as a "historic turning point," claiming that Israel had "settled its account" with the man responsible for the deaths of numerous Israelis, as well as American and French citizens.
Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon on Saturday killed 33 people and injured 195, according to the Lebanese health ministry. Over the past two weeks, more than 1,000 Lebanese civilians have been killed, and over 6,000 wounded, with around one million displaced as a result of ongoing Israeli attacks.