Amid escalating tensions in the Middle East, suspense continues over the whereabouts of Hezbollah chief Nasrallah's successor Hashem Safieddine. Safieddine has been missing since Friday, a Lebanese security source told Reuters on Saturday. Meanwhile, Israel is conducting airstrikes in Beirut’s southern neighbourhoods. The Israeli military said it is striking Hezbollah terror targets in the Lebanese capital following IDF’s evacuation orders. Israel had issued evacuation warnings the day before as they continued their mission to root out Hezbollah operatives.
IDF conducted strikes on "terror operatives" at a command centre in Gaza. The strikes were conducted on a compound that formerly housed the Ibn Rushd school in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza strip.
Israel has pressed forward on two fronts, pursuing a ground incursion into Lebanon against Hezbollah that left eight Israeli soldiers dead and conducting strikes in Gaza that killed dozens. Further, Israel's Netanyahu has vowed to retaliate for Iran's ballistic missile attack, as the region braced for further escalation.
Tensions escalated after Iran fired nearly 200 missiles on Israel on Tuesday forcing the residents to rush to bomb shelters. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed the missile assault was a response to the recent Israeli killings of Hezbollah leaders and aggression against the Iran-backed armed group in Lebanon, as well as in Gaza, as per Reuters.
Top Updates
1. Israel carried airstrikes on two Hamas command centres in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza strip. The first strike was carried at a compound that formerly housed the Ibn Rushd school while the second strike was conducted at a former site of Shuhada al-Aqsa mosque.
2. The command centers were used by Hamas to plan and carry out terror attacks against IDF forces and the State of Israel, the Israeli army said.
3. A massive explosion took place as Israeli air strikes hit the southern suburbs of Beirut soon after the Israeli army issued an evacuation order there.
4. At least 11 people were killed in a barrage of Israeli attacks on northern Gaza, the Civil Defence in the Strip has said as dozens of rockets pounded Beit Hanoon, Beit Lahiya and Jabalia.
5. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a video statement marking a year since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, which he called “horrific”. "All those who were brutally killed and suffered unspeakable violence, including sexual violence, as they were simply living their lives," said Guterres. This comes after Israel banned the UN chief from entering the country.
6. Israel Defense Forces claimed to have destroyed a tunnel used for smuggling arms. The IDF said that fighter jets struck a two-mile-long tunnel overnight that crossed between Lebanon and Syria, and which the military said was used by Hezbollah to smuggle Iranian weapons.
7. Israel Defense Forces intensified its operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon on Saturday, targeting command centers, weapons caches, tunnels, and other strategic sites. The military claimed it had killed at least 440 Hezbollah operatives since ground operations began on Monday.
8. Israel War Room on Saturday announced plans for a "serious and significant" retaliatory strike against Iran, posting a tweet stating that preparations for the strike are well underway.
9. Reports stated that the expected successor to former Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah, Hashem Safieddine, was also killed in an Israeli strike in Beirut. He has been "out of contact" since then.
10. Israeli Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said on Friday the military was still assessing the Thursday night airstrikes, which he said targeted Hezbollah's intelligence headquarters. However, despite all these claims, Hezbollah has yet to comment on Safieddine.