Israel decimates Hezbollah's senior command structure

Israel said on Sunday it killed another senior Hezbollah official in an air strike on the Lebanese capital after dealing the Iran-backed group a seismic blow by assassinating its leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

Israel announced the killing of Nabil Qaouq, a member of Hezbollah's central council, in a strike on Saturday, adding that its air force continued to hit "dozens" more targets around Lebanon on Sunday.

Israeli strikes have in recent months decimated Hezbollah's senior command structure, with Nasrallah's right-hand man Fuad Shukr, head of the elite Radwan Force Ibrahim Aqil and others among the dead.

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

Hezbollah launched low-intensity cross-border strikes on Israeli troops after its Palestinian ally Hamas staged its unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, sparking the war in the Gaza Strip.

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

Hezbollah confirmed Nasrallah's killing in a massive strike on Friday on the group's main bastion in south Beirut.

"We all started crying," Maha Karit said in Beirut after Nasrallah's death.

With Lebanon already mired in political and economic crisis, the escalation has pushed it to the brink, as the bombardment has killed over 700 people in a week, according to health ministry figures.

The Israeli military said on Sunday its air force had struck "dozens of Hezbollah terror targets" after carrying out "hundreds" of strikes on Friday and Saturday.

It then announced that Qaouq was "struck and eliminated" in a strike on south Beirut on Saturday.

Hezbollah has yet to officially announce Qaouq's death but a source close to the group said he had been killed.

Lebanon's National News Agency reported a string of raids in and around the city of Baalbek in the east.

At least six people were killed in a strike on a house in the northeastern Hermel region, the agency reported, while an emergency response group affiliated with Hezbollah ally the Amal movement said five of its rescuers were killed in the south.

Hezbollah said its fighters launched "a volley of Fadi-1" rockets at an Israeli base in the Golan Heights early on Sunday. The Israeli military reported "approximately eight" launches from Lebanon that fell in unpopulated areas near the Israeli-annexed territory.

Nasrallah was the face of Hezbollah, enjoying cult status among his supporters.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had "settled the score" with Nasrallah's killing, while Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said the world was "a safer place" without him.

Analysts told AFP that Nasrallah's death leaves bruised Hezbollah under pressure to respond.

"Either we see an unprecedented reaction by Hezbollah...or this is total defeat," said Heiko Wimmen of the International Crisis Group think tank.

The assassination also showcased Israel's military and intelligence prowess.

"It demonstrates...just how deeply Israel has penetrated Hezbollah," said James Dorsey of Singapore's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

Hamas condemned Nasrallah's killing as a "cowardly terrorist act", while Lebanon, Iraq, Iran and Syria all declared public mourning.

Allied armed groups across the region like Yemen's Huthi rebels, already drawn into the Gaza war, have vowed action against Israel.

An "unmanned aerial target" approaching Israel over the Red Sea — where the Iran-backed Huthis have launched attacks before — was intercepted on Sunday, the Israeli military said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Most of the deaths in Lebanon came on Monday, the deadliest day of violence since the country's 1975-1990 civil war.