Iran vows revenge for Nasrallah killing; Israeli strikes displace up to 1 million in Lebanon

Pakistanis protesting Nasrallah’s killing clash with police

China and Japan both say they are “concerned” about the escalating tensions between Israel and Lebanon following the killing of Hezbollah’s leader.

“China opposes the infringement on Lebanon’s sovereignty and security,” a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. “China urges parties concerned, especially Israel, to immediately take actions to cool down the situation.”

Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, Yoshimasa Hayashi, said today that the country is “strongly concerned” about the escalating situation and “deeply worried about the large number of” civilian casualties.

“Japan urges all parties to immediately take all measures to prevent civilian casualties” and to comply with international law, Hayashi said.

The military incentives are for Israel to continue its attack on Hezbollah in Lebanon, says Matthew Savill, military sciences director at the Royal United Services Institute.

“Israel has destroyed Hezbollah’s senior leadership, compromised its ability to coordinate, and has the initiative,” he said. “Many would argue there will never be a better time to go into southern Lebanon to destroy Hezbollah’s military infrastructure there.”

Savill added that Israel could instead continue using precise strikes, compelling Hezbollah to stand down, but said Netanyahu may instead be tempted by a “generational opportunity” to deal a setback to Iranian regional influence.

Lebanon’s top Christian cleric, Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai, said the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has “opened a wound in the heart of the Lebanese.”

During a sermon, Al-Rai offered his condolences to Nasrallah’s family and his community and said, “War means all sides lose.”

He has previously accused Nasrallah’s Shiite Islamist group of dragging Lebanon into regional conflicts.

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Israel has taken away Hezbollah’s “tools to work” by eliminating those at the top of its command chain, says Jean Marie Kassab, a former political analyst based in Lebanon.

“Every day we have an assassination,” she told NBC News. “Nobody is left to lead. We’re waiting for the appointment of a new secretary-general.”

Kassab said the Lebanese population was divided over Nasrallah’s assassination. Some Hezbollah supporters were spotted marching through the streets of Beirut in mourning yesterday, while others disliked and even hated him.

“Some people are happy, yet they are still afraid of Hezbollah,” she said.

Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi, the secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, is calling for a cease-fire in Lebanon amid days of strikes on the country by Israel.

A statement from the group — whose membership comprises the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait — affirmed its “continuous backing for Lebanon’s sovereignty, security, and stability.”

Albudaiwi, according to the GCC statement, said there needs to be an “immediate ceasefire” and noted the “importance of avoiding military escalation” in the region. He also emphasized the need to protect civilians, exercise restraint and refrain from “engaging in regional conflicts to prevent the expansion of the dispute in the region.”

Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry said in today in a statement of support that it will send aid to Lebanon and urged the international community to act.

The ministry also stressed that Lebanon’s sovereignty needs to be preserved and that the humanitarian consequences of Israel’s current military action must be limited.

“The Kingdom calls on the international community to assume its responsibilities towards protecting regional security and peace to spare the region and its peoples the dangers of wars and their tragedies,” the statement said.

Five people have been killed in strikes on Lebanon today, with the country’s Public Health Ministry reporting that they were killed in strikes on the Bint Jbeil district.

According to the state-run National News Agency, the ministry reported 10 other people were injured in across multiple towns in the district. Bint Jbeil is in south Lebanon near the border with Israel.

Four people were killed in Israeli strikes in the Hudaydah Governorate earlier today, according to a spokesperson for Yemen’s Health Ministry.

Another 40 people were injured, their conditions ranging from moderate to severe, the ministry said. The IDF confirmed earlier today that the country’s air force conducted strikes on Ras Issa and Hodeidah.

The IDF said it was targeting Houthi infrastructure to prevent the group’s ability to gain supplies from Iran, while the Houthis said the targets included civilian facilities.

Sirens sounded in Haifa today after Hezbollah appeared to fire once again at northern Israel.

The IDF said it intercepted a projectile directed at the country that crossed over from Lebanon. The military posted on X that Israelis were “running for shelter after Hezbollah fired missiles at Haifa.”

Israeli strikes in Lebanon today have killed at least 57 people and injured 105 more, according to statements from the Lebanese Public Health Ministry.

The ministry said 32 people were killed in strikes on the village of Ain el-Delb and 21 others were killed in Baalbek-Hermel. Another four people were killed in attacks on Anqoun, a town near Sidon, the ministry said.

Separately, the ministry reported earlier today that 14 paramedics were killed in strikes over the last two days.

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UNICEF spokesperson James Elder visited Deir al-Balah and toured the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Gaza, where he spoke with a 3-year-old boy and his father whose home was shelled by the Israeli military.

“The world’s attention is shifting to Lebanon, but there’s been no slowing down of attacks here on children” in Gaza,” Elder told an NBC News crew inside Al-Aqsa Hospital. “These corridors are full of children.”

Fareed Al-Khatib’s son, Mahmoud, suffered severe injuries to an elbow and the bones in an arm when the Israeli military fired a shell at his home. He remains in critical condition.

“We hope that my kid, Mahmoud, can get out of Gaza to get some medicine and operation outside of Gaza,” Al-Khatib said. “We are afraid to lose more in our family. I have lost my mom in January, and I’m afraid, I’m really afraid, to lose another one of my family.”

Hezbollah released several statements today announcing attacks on various sites in northern Israel, including villages and military targets.

Shtula and Safed were among the places Hezbollah said it targeted in response to Israeli attacks on Lebanese villages. It also said it attacked the Elyakim army base, which is part of Israel’s northern command.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the return of Gideon Sa’ar to his government, welcoming the more centrist New Hope party to his coalition.

Sa’ar left Netanyahu’s Likud party in 2020 and started New Hope, a right-wing party considered more moderate than others. Sa’ar had been part of Netanyahu’s emergency government after the Oct. 7 attack but left in March.

Netanyahu said in a joint announcement with Sa’ar that he asked Sa’ar to join as part of his effort to create a stable government “as much as possible.”

“In the discussions of the political-security Cabinet, I was very impressed by Gideon Sa’ar’s broad vision and his ability to offer creative solutions to complicated problems,” Netanyahu said, adding that the two have put past differences aside.

Protesters gathered on Place de la République in Paris today in support of Lebanese people as intense Israeli attacks across Lebanon’s east and south and on southern Beirut have killed hundreds of people and forced many to flee their homes.

Lebanon spent roughly 20 years as a French mandate before it gained independence in 1943, when France was under Nazi occupation in World War II. The two countries have maintained friendly relations, and French is still widely spoken in Lebanon.

Lebanon’s Public Health Ministry reported the deaths of 21 people today in attacks in the Baalbek-Hermel Governorate.

The Israeli strikes injured 47 others, the ministry said, in addition to the 24 people who the ministry said were killed in an attack on Ain El Delb near Sidon earlier today.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, says more than 50,000 Lebanese and Syrians living in Lebanon have now crossed into Syria as they flee Israeli airstrikes.

He added on X that “well over 200,000” are now displaced inside Lebanon.

The U.N. Relief and Works Agency says 1,424 people, almost half of them children, are registered at its emergency shelters in Lebanon.

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At least 17 people from the same family were killed in an Israeli airstrike this morning targeting a residential building in Zboud near the town of Al-Ain in southern Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency. 

The search for survivors under the rubble is ongoing.

Pope Francis insinuated that Israel’s attacks are “immoral actions” while speaking to reporters today as he traveled home from a recent trip to Belgium.

The pontiff did not specify Israel in his remarks, but he was responding to a question regarding the country’s attack targeting Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut on Friday that decimated multiple buildings. He said he did not know all the details but that “defense must always be proportional” to an attack.

“If it is disproportionate you see a tendency to dominate that goes beyond morality,” Pope Francis said. “A country that does these things with force — I am talking about whatever country that does these things in such an exaggerated way — these are immoral actions.”

Earlier in the day, Pope Francis said he was following the situation in Lebanon “with pain and with great concern.” He asked his followers to pray for peace and called for an immediate cease-fire in the region, along with the return of all the hostages in Gaza.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot will travel to Lebanon today, his office said, as Israel continued to strike multiple targets in the country.

“We confirm that the minister is going to Lebanon this weekend to talk with local authorities and provide French support, particularly humanitarian support,” the foreign ministry said.

Residents of the Lebanese capital told NBC News this morning of their fears that the killing of Nasrallah might only make the situation in the country worse.

“Even though I don’t agree with Hezbollah’s decisions and how they dragged Lebanon into a war that it can’t handle, Hassan Nasrallah is a charismatic and sharp leader. I wish we had a president like him, not extremists,” said Maya, a 22-year-old waitress.

“I am afraid that his assassination will drag Lebanon into a worse situation,” said Maya, who declined to give her last name out of fear of repercussions.

Karim, a bank teller, said he “was extremely sad and devastated” by Nasrallah’s death.

The 32-year-old, who also declined to give his last name out of fear of repercussions, said: “We’re orphans without him. Who is going to make us proud? Well, Israel has won this time. What might happen in Lebanon, in my opinion, I am afraid that Iran is negotiating with the U.S. at the expense of Hezbollah and we might end up with peace talks with Israel, which I don’t agree with.”

At least 24 people have been killed and another 29 injured in an attack on a village south of Beirut, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

The ministry said that was the preliminary death toll following an Israeli attack on Ain El Delb, which is located outside of the Lebanese city of Sidon.

Following attacks by Israel’s air force in Yemen, the Houthis told NBC News that the strikes “do not impact our military operations.”

Nasr El-Din Amer, with the Houthis’ media wing, said that the strikes in Ras Issa and Hodeidah did in fact hit fuel tanks but that the group had emptied them prior to Israel’s attack. The group also alleged that the strikes hit facilities that are “civilian in nature.”

Israel has hit Yemen’s Ras Issa and Hodeidah areas, targeting Houthi infrastructure to block its access to Iranian supplies, the IDF said today.

Jets with the Israeli Air Force attacked power plants and a seaport that Israel claims the Houthis use to transfer Iranian weapons, military supplies and oil.

“Our message is clear — for us, no place is too far,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said.

Israeli attacks from the last two days have killed more than a dozen paramedics in Lebanon, Lebanon’s Public Health Ministry said today after bombardments in southern Lebanon.

At least 14 paramedics were killed in bombardments that began yesterday in the area of the Civil Defense’s center and clinics in southern Lebanon, as well as an attack that hit a hospital in the Bekaa Valley. Some paramedics were killed today in attacks in Tyre and a village in Nabatieh region, the ministry said.

“It is known that paramedics do not participate in military operations,” the ministry said in a statement. “They transport martyrs for burial and treat the wounded until they reach hospitals.”

The Lebanese health ministry condemned the attacks, accusing Israel of “blatantly” disregarding international laws that protect medical workers. Israel’s military has repeatedly denied targeting medical workers over the last year, despite accusations of targeting Gaza’s health infrastructure and doctors.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered two Marine groups to stay where they are while increasing the “readiness” of other forces should there be an escalation with Iran.

The USS Abraham Lincoln carrier group will remain at CENTCOM for the time being while the USS Wasp amphibious assault carriers will stay put in the Eastern Mediterranean, according to Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon’s spokesperson.

“Secretary Austin made clear that should Iran, its partners, or its proxies use this moment to target American personnel or interests in the region, the United States will take every necessary measure to defend our people,” Ryder said.

The IDF has listed the names of the key operatives who it says were killed alongside the Hezbollah leader in Friday’s strike on the militant group’s underground headquarters.

It said that “more than 20 terrorists of varying ranks” were killed, including Ibrahim Hussein Jazini, the head of Nasrallah’s security unit, and Samir Tawfiq Dib, who it says was a longtime confidant of Nasrallah.

Hezbollah is yet to confirm the deaths of Jazini or the other operatives named by the IDF. NBC News is unable to verify the IDF’s claims.

As the world awaits Iran’s response to Israel’s dramatic escalation against its Lebanese proxy group, photos from the Islamic Republic’s capital this morning show people walking past banners featuring an image of Nasrallah.

Another shows a banner that also has an image of Revolutionary Guard commander Abbas Nilforoushan, who was also killed in Friday’s strike.

The IDF says it has killed another senior Hezbollah figure, announcing that the commander of the group’s Preventive Security Unit, Nabil Kaouk, was killed in an airstrike on Beirut last night. Kaouk was also a member of the group’s central council, it said.

In a statement, the IDF said it would “continue to strike and eliminate the commanders within Hezbollah.”

Hezbollah later confirmed Kaouk’s death, making him the seventh top commander killed in the past few weeks.

The Middle East is on edge days after Israel took out the top leader of Hezbollah, with the U.S. Embassy telling Americans in the area to get out while they can. 

The IDF says it has conducted a new “precise strike” in the Dahiyeh suburb in southern Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold it has targeted with frequent attacks in the past two weeks.

Israeli warplanes also targeted the district with a wave of strikes yesterday.

The IDF said minutes earlier that it was “continuing to strike terror targets belonging to Hezbollah” across Lebanon, including “weapons directed toward Israeli territory.” In a subsequent update, it said that “following the sirens that sounded in the western Galilee and HaAmakim areas, approximately 10 projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon, some of which were intercepted.”

Reporting from HAIFA, Israel

Israel’s military used American-made 2,000-pound “bunker buster” bombs in its strike that killed the Hezbollah leader, an expert told NBC News after reviewing Israeli military footage.

Trevor Ball, a former U.S. Army explosive ordnance disposal technician, said that footage released by the IDF showed F-15 fighter aircraft taking off loaded with BLU-109 bombs.

Ball’s analysis was first reported by The New York Times. The IDF has refused to say what type of munition it used in the attack.

The American-made heavy munition is used for penetrating reinforced bunkers. Israel has said Nasrallah and other Hezbollah leaders were in an underground command centers. Lebanon’s government has accused Israel of war crimes for using such powerful weapons in a densely populated suburb of Beirut.

U.S. Central Command said this morning that its forces conducted two targeted strikes in Syria in September, killing 37 terrorist operatives including multiple leaders of ISIS.

It said a strike on Sept. 16 “killed at least 28 ISIS operatives” in a remote training camp in central Syria. The second strike, in northwest Syria on Sept. 24, killed nine “terrorist operatives,” including a senior leader of an Al Qaeda affiliate, according to the statement.

It said the airstrikes were part of efforts to “disrupt and degrade efforts by terrorists,” adding that there was no indication any civilians were harmed in either strike.

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Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati says around 1 million people have been internally displaced in the country by the conflict and Israel’s intensifying bombardment.

Mikati called the current displacement the “largest in Lebanon’s history,” and said more than 700 centers were ready to shelter the displaced.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said yesterday that “well over 200,000” were now displaced inside Lebanon.

Lebanon’s army has called for “national unity” amid a rising number of dead and injured in the nation.

In a statement posted on X, it urged citizens to “refrain from actions that could jeopardize civil peace during this dangerous and delicate phase” in Lebanon’s history.

Iran has vowed the strike that killed the Hezbollah leader and a senior Revolutionary Guards commander “will not go unanswered.”

Speaking as he departed New York, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said: “We are on high alert. The countries of the region and beyond must recognize that the situation is extremely dangerous, and anything could happen at any moment.” He said the U.S. was “complicit in this crime” and that “undoubtedly, the blood of the martyrs of this incident will not go unanswered, and we will stand firmly with the resistance.”

Earlier, Iran’s parliament speaker said that the country’s network of proxies known as the “Axis of Resistance” will continue confronting Israel with Tehran’s support. He then joined lawmakers in chanting “death to Israel” and “death to America.”

The World Food Programme has launched an emergency food operation to help reach 1 million people impacted by the conflict in Lebanon.

“Further escalation of the conflict this weekend underscores the need for urgent humanitarian response,” it said in a post on X.

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China’s foreign ministry says it is opposed to any action that violates Lebanon’s sovereignty, following the death of Hezbollah commander Hassan Nasrallah during a wave of strikes on Beirut.

“China opposes any violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty and security, opposes and condemns any actions that harm innocent civilians, and opposes any move that exacerbates conflicts and leads to an escalation of the regional situation,” it said, urging the parties concerned, “especially Israel,” to take immediate measures to cool down the situation.

The ministry also called for a cease-fire in Gaza to de-escalate tensions in the region, saying that the “tense situation between Lebanon and Israel is a spillover of the Gaza conflict.”

Reporting from ZOUK MOSBEH, Lebanon

When Andre Kahale first heard of Friday’s strikes on Hezbollah HQ, he told NBC News, “My heart skipped a beat. Then we spent the next 24 hours fearing.”

Kahale, 65, is a dentist who lives in Hadath, about 4 miles south of Beirut. “We couldn’t sleep all night” after the strikes, he said in an interview this morning.

But, Kahale said, when the Hezbollah leader was confirmed dead, his thoughts soon turned to “his people, how they’re feeling.” He said he knew they would be “lost and sad.”

But Kahale said he also felt hope after the death of Nasrallah. “I personally feel that we are on our way to have peace in Lebanon. Finally, Lebanon is going to breathe.”

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke with Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant to discuss the situation in Lebanon last night.

Austin “made it clear that the United States supports Israel’s right to defend itself and reinforced that the United States is committed to deterring Iran and Iranian-backed partners and proxies from taking advantage of the situation or expanding the conflict,” according to a Pentagon readout of the call.

He also “emphasized that the United States remains postured to defend U.S. forces in the region,” it said.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has confirmed in a statement that one of its top regional commanders, Abbas Nilforoushan, was killed in the same strike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Nilforoushan is one of the most senior Iranian commanders to be killed in recent years.

Those displaced by Israeli airstrikes on the Lebanese capital have sought shelter, with some forced to sleep in the streets.

The IDF said this morning that an Israeli naval missile ship successfully intercepted a drone that approached Israel from the Red Sea before it entered the nation’s airspace.

Later, the IDF said eight projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israel, falling in open areas.

It did not provide details on the drone’s likely target, but sirens had sounded in the southern port city of Eilat this morning.

Israel continued to bombard Lebanon with dozens of airstrikes overnight and into the early morning. The Israel Defense Forces said it had struck Hezbollah targets, including launchers aimed at Israeli territory.

More than 1,000 people have been killed and 6,000 injured in the past two weeks of intense Israeli strikes on its neighbor, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

The State Department last night offered assistance to U.S. citizens looking to leave Lebanon, warning that citizens who remain in the country should be ready to shelter in place for an extended period of time.

The department said on its website that it “strongly encourages” Americans in southern Lebanon, near the borders with Syria or in refugee settlements to leave immediately.

“We continue to advise that U.S. citizens depart Lebanon due to the unpredictable nature of ongoing conflict between Hizballah and Israel and recent explosions throughout Lebanon, including Beirut,” a State Department advisory read.

With tensions boiling over in the Middle East following the death of Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in a series of Israeli airstrikes, there are new fears of a wider war.