Israel announced on Sunday that it killed another senior Hezbollah official in an airstrike on the Lebanese capital, following the assassination of the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in a major blow to the Iran-backed organization.
The latest strike targeted Nabil Qaouq, a member of Hezbollah’s central council, who was killed on Saturday.
Israeli air forces reportedly continued to hit “dozens” of targets across Lebanon on Sunday, as part of a campaign that has dismantled much of Hezbollah’s leadership in recent months.
Among the notable figures killed were Nasrallah’s deputy Fuad Shukr and Ibrahim Aqil, the head of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force.
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The series of strikes has left Lebanon and the wider region bracing for further escalation, with over 700 people killed in the past week, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
Hezbollah had engaged in cross-border attacks on Israeli forces after Hamas launched its unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, triggering the current war in Gaza.
Nearly a year later, Israel shifted its attention to Hezbollah on its northern front, leading to Nasrallah’s death in a massive strike on the group’s stronghold in south Beirut.
Following the news of Nasrallah’s death, widespread mourning gripped Lebanon, with one Beirut resident telling AFP, “We all started crying.”
The Israeli military confirmed that its airstrikes had hit “dozens of Hezbollah terror targets” and announced Qaouq’s elimination.
Hezbollah has not officially confirmed Qaouq’s death, though a source close to the group acknowledged the loss.
Elsewhere, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported additional Israeli strikes near Baalbek and the northeastern Hermel region, killing multiple people, including emergency responders from the Amal movement, a Hezbollah ally.
In retaliation, Hezbollah launched rockets at an Israeli base in the Golan Heights on Sunday, with the Israeli military reporting eight launches from Lebanon that landed in unpopulated areas.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Nasrallah’s assassination was a way of “settling the score,” while Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said the world was “a safer place” without him.
The United States, Israel’s top arms supplier, also lauded the killing as “justice” for Nasrallah’s victims.
Hezbollah backer Iran condemned the assassination, with Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref warning that it would lead to Israel’s “destruction.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also vowed that the killing of its Revolutionary Guards general, Abbas Nilforoushan, who died alongside Nasrallah, would “not go unanswered.”
Meanwhile, Hamas denounced Nasrallah’s death as a “cowardly terrorist act,” and public mourning was declared in Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, and Syria.
With Lebanon facing ongoing political and economic crises, the escalation has displaced hundreds of thousands, with the UN estimating over 200,000 people internally displaced and Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati warning the number could rise to one million.
The World Food Programme has launched emergency aid operations, while diplomats emphasize that resolving the war in Gaza is key to de-escalating tensions across the region.
As the conflict rages on, Israeli strikes continued in Gaza, killing several civilians overnight, while Hamas’s October 7 attack left over 1,200 people dead in Israel.
Israel’s counteroffensive has resulted in at least 41,595 deaths in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the territory’s health ministry and the UN.
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