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Reuters

Israeli forces have killed the would-be successors of late Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday, without naming them.
“We’ve degraded Hezbollah’s capabilities. We took out thousands of terrorists, including Nasrallah himself and Nasrallah’s replacement, and the replacement of the replacement,” Netanyahu said in a pre-recorded video message.
Netanyahu did not identify by name Nasrallah’s replacement that he claimed Israel had killed.
A Hezbollah official said on Sunday that Israel was obstructing search and rescue efforts in an area where Nasrallah’s potential successor Hashem Safieddine is thought to have been when Israel bombed Beirut’s southern suburbs on Thursday.
Israel killed Nasrallah in a September air strike on Beirut.

Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Nasrallah’s replacement had probably been “eliminated”.
It was not immediately clear who Netanyahu meant in his comments by the “replacement of the replacement”.
“Today, Hezbollah is weaker than it has been for many, many years,” the prime minister said in the video message directed at the people of Lebanon.
Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel last October 8, a day after Hamas Palestinian militants attacked southern Israel from Gaza. Hezbollah cited solidarity with Hamas.
Some 60,000 Israeli citizens in the country’s north have been forced to leave their homes, while Israel’s stated objective is to make its northern areas safe from Hezbollah rocket fire and allow those displaced residents to return.
“Israel has a right to defend itself. Israel also has a right to win. And Israel will win,” Netanyahu said.

He urged Lebanon to “take back your country” and return it to a path of peace and prosperity and take advantage of an opportunity that hasn’t existed in decades.
“If you don’t, Hezbollah will continue to try to fight Israel from densely populated areas at your expense. It doesn’t care if Lebanon is dragged into a wider war,” he added.
“Christians, Druze, Muslims – Sunnis and Shiites – all of you are suffering because of Hezbollah’s futile war against Israel.
“Don’t let these terrorists destroy your future any more than they’ve already done,” Netanyahu said.
“You have an opportunity to save Lebanon before it falls into the abyss of a long war that will lead to destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza. It doesn’t have to be that way.”


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Middle East

Netanyahu says Israel killed Hezbollah chief’s successor and ‘replacement’s replacement’

Two women take a selfie next to a newly painted graffiti of slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Tel Aviv, Israel, in September. Photo: AP

Flames and smoke rise from an Israeli air strike in Beirut, Lebanon, on Sunday. Photo: AP

Hezbollah senior official Hashem Safieddine in October, 2023. File photo: Reuters

Hezbollah vows more rocket fire, Israel steps up strikes amid escalating conflict

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli air strike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Khiam on October 8. Photo: AP

A person watches a speech by Sheikh Naim Qassem, deputy leader of Hezbollah, broadcasted on Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV channel, on their mobile phone in Beirut, Lebanon. Photo: EPA-EFE

Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli air strike at Dahieh Hadath area in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, on October 7. Photo: EPA-EFE

Gaza in ruins after Israel’s year-long offensive. Rebuilding may take decades

Destruction left by the Israeli air and ground offensive in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip. Photo: AP

A child walks through the destruction left by the Israeli air and ground offensive on Khan Younis, Gaza Strip. Photo: AP

Destruction near Shifa Hospital in Gaza City in April, 2024. File photo: AP

The rubble of the Yassin Mosque in Gaza City, October 9, 2023. File photo: AP

Scenes in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip. Photo: AP

An Israeli air strike in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, October 23, 2023. File photo: AP

Hezbollah source says contact ‘lost’ with top figure Hashem Safieddine

Senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine, centre, on July 4. Hezbollah said contact had been lost with Safieddine following Israeli strikes this week. Photo: Reuters

Rubble around a damaged building in the aftermath of Israeli strikes in the Chiyah area of Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon on Saturday. Photo: Reuters 

IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari. Photo: dpa

Smoke from an Israeli strike, seen from Tyre, southern Lebanon on Saturday. Photo: Reuters 

A woman stands near folded blankets along the Ramlet al-Bayda public beach in Beirut on Saturday, where people who fled Israeli bombing set up tents to be used as temporary shelters. Photo: AFP

News

World

In a video message, the Israeli prime minister warns the people of Lebanon that their country faces destruction ‘like Gaza’


In a video message, the Israeli prime minister warns the people of Lebanon that their country faces destruction ‘like Gaza’.


Israel

Lebanon

Israel-Gaza war

War and conflict