Israel strikes Yemen in retaliation as Middle East conflict smolders
Smoke billows after an Israeli strike near the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on September 29, 2024.
A day after confirming that it killed longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike in Lebanon, stunning the world and instantly reshaping the Middle East conflict, Israel remains on the offensive.
The Israel Defense Forces said on Sunday it continued to strike targets in Lebanon it says are home to Hezbollah members. It also retaliated against attempted rocket attacks launched by the Houthis in Yemen, another Iran proxy, striking the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah.
“The IDF will continue to strike and eliminate the commanders within the Hezbollah terrorist organization and will act against anyone who threatens the citizens of the State of Israel,” the Israel Defense Forces said on Sunday.
The IDF said it had also killed Nabil Qaouk, the commander of Hezbollah’s Preventative Security Unit and a member of the group’s Executive Council, in a seprate airstrike.
Both the Israel Defense Forces and Hezbollah confirmed on Saturday that Nasrallah had been killed in an Israeli airstrike on a neighborhood in Beirut.
It was a stunning development that some worry could draw Iran more directly into the conflict. Nasrallah was Iran’s most important and well-armed proxy. He led the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon for more than three decades and is credited with expanding the group’s military capabilities and stockpile of rockets and missiles.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, condemned the killing in a series of statements on Saturday but stopped short of threatening retaliation. Reuters reported on Sunday that Khamenei had been moved to a secure location, a sign of just how vulnerable the Iranian government feels after Israel’s assassination of Nasrallah.
US officials confirmed to ABC News that Israeli troops may or may soon be conducting small-scale operations into Lebanon in an effort to take out Hezbollah positions on the border. Israel has not yet decided whether to launch a full-scale ground operation, but the country is preparing for the possibility, the officials told ABC.
Such an operation would be limited in scope, CNN reported, citing a senior administration official. Israel’s goal is to return roughly 60,000 Israeli residents to their homes who fled Hezbollah rocket attacks in the northern border area.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett told CNN this moment presents a “huge opportunity” for Israel to “remove this whole threat” of Hezbollah, calling on the people of Lebanon to “take back” their country from the Iran-backed militant group.
In response to the airstrikes that killed Nasrallah, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to address what he described as Israel’s “terrorist aggression” in Lebanon.
President Joe Biden said Nasrallah and Hezbollah “were responsible for killing hundreds of Americans over a four-decade reign of terror.”
“His death from an Israeli airstrike is a measure of justice for his many victims, including thousands of Americans, Israelis, and Lebanese civilians,” Biden said in a statement on Saturday.
Air raid sirens have rung throughout Israel over the last 24 hours as the country girded for possible retaliatory attacks from the various factions in the region allied with Hezbollah and Iran. The IDF said Sunday that Hezbollah had launched rockets at Israel and said on Saturday it had intercepted a missile launched by the Houthis in Yemen.
Israel’s airstrikes on Friday destroyed several high-rise apartment buildings in the residential neighborhood of Haret Hreik in south Beirut.
Smoke rises over destroyed buildings in Beirut after Israeli strikes on September 27.
Television footage from Beirut on Saturday morning showed plumes of smoke billowing from damaged buildings.
Israel has increasingly targeted top Hezbollah officials and operatives in recent weeks in strikes that have killed hundreds of people.
Hezbollah members were also targeted by a covert operation that involved detonating electronic communications devices. The sophisticated attack was attributed to Israel, though it hasn’t claimed responsibility.
Tensions between the two sides have been on the rise since October 8, the day after the Hamas attack on Israel. Hezbollah launched projectiles into Israel in what it said was a show of solidarity with Hamas and the Palestinians affected by the conflict.
In his White House statement, Biden said he told his defense secretary to “further enhance the defense posture of U.S. military forces” in the region as a measure of deterrence, though he said the ultimate goal is conflict de-escalation “through diplomatic means.”
Israel warns of challenging days ahead
The IDF said the attack that killed Nasrallah and some of his other top officials on Friday was part of a precision strike by Israel’s air force on Hezbollah’s central headquarters, which it said was located underground below a residential building.
In a televised press conference on Saturday, IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said that Israel was on peak alert and warned of challenging days ahead.
“Israel does not seek a wider escalation,” Hagari said, adding that the army was seeking to bring home hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and to ensure its borders are safe.
Israel’s government has ordered its citizens not to hold large gatherings of more than 1,000 people in the central area of the country from today amid fears of a retaliation.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, pictured January 17, 2020.
In a series of posts on X, Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, condemned the Lebanon strikes and showed solidarity with Hezbollah.
“Lebanon will make the trangressing, malicious enemy regret its actions,” a post on Khamenei’s account reads.
Iran is a close ally of Hezbollah and has funded the group for decades. Iran’s state news agency said Saturday that Iranian Brigadier Gen. Abbas Nilforoushan also died in the Israeli strike that killed Nasrallah.
A spokesperson for the Pentagon said on Friday it had received no forewarning of Israel’s operation in the Lebanese capital this weekend. The US and allies — including the United Kingdom, France, and Germany — issued a joint statement earlier this week calling for an immediate 21-day ceasefire across the Lebanon-Israel border.
Hezbollah is a US-designated foreign terrorist organization with fighters numbering between 40,000 and 50,000, according to the Congressional Research Service. The group also has close relationships with the government of Syria and Houthi militants in Yemen.
