Israel strikes 'dozens' of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon

Israel said on Sept 29 it was carrying out new air raids against "dozens" of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, after dealing the Iran-backed group a seismic blow by killing its leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

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Nasrallah's killing and the past week's waves of strikes on Hezbollah strongholds around Lebanon have plunged the tiny Mediterranean country and the wider region into fear of even more violence to come.

Hezbollah began low-intensity cross-border strikes on Israeli troops a day after its Palestinian ally Hamas staged its unprecedented attack on Israel on Oct 7, 2023, triggering war in the Gaza Strip.

Nearly a year later, Israel announced a shift in its focus to battling Hezbollah on its northern front with Lebanon.

Hezbollah confirmed on Sept 28 that its leader was killed in an Israeli strike a day earlier on Beirut's southern suburbs, dealing a massive blow to the group he had led for decades.

On Sept 29, the group said Ali Karaki, one of its remaining top military commanders, was also killed in the massive air strike that killed Nasrallah.

The Israeli military announced on the same day that more than 20 "terrorists of varying ranks" were killed along with Nasrallah.

They include Nabil Kaouk, a member of Hezbollah's central council; Ibrahim Hussein Jazini, director of Nasrallah's security unit; Samir Tawfiq Dib, an adviser to Nasrallah; and Abed al-Amir Muhammad Sablini, head of Hezbollah's force build-up.

Nasrallah's killing marks a sharp escalation in nearly a year of tit-for-tat cross-border fire between Hezbollah and Israel, and risks plunging the whole region into a wider war.