Joe Biden believes the killing of Hezbollah leader Nasrallah was just. Netanyahu wants to continue persecuting Israel’s enemies. All developments in the news blog.
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9:47 p.m.: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sees his country at a “historic turning point” after the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. With the air strike on Nasrallah, Israel retaliated for the actions of the pro-Iranian militia, Netanyahu said in a televised speech on Saturday evening.
“We have settled accounts with the person responsible for the murder of countless Israelis and many citizens of other countries, including hundreds of Americans and dozens of French people,” he said. In 1983, almost 300 soldiers from the USA and France were killed in a double attack by Hezbollah in Beirut.
Israel has now apparently reached a “historic turning point” in the fight against its enemies, Netanyahu added. Israel is determined to continue this fight.
8:48 p.m.: Israeli Defense Minister Joaw Gallant is holding talks about a possible expansion of the military offensive in the north of the country. A corresponding assessment of the situation is ongoing, explains his office.
6:50 p.m.: US President Joe Biden has described the Israeli attack on the alleged Hezbollah headquarters and the killing of terror leader Hassan Nasrallah as a “measure of justice”.
Nasrallah and Hezbollah are responsible for the murder of hundreds of Americans. The US also continued to “fully support” Israel’s right “to defend itself against Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis and all other Iranian-backed terrorist groups.”
Biden has instructed US Defense Secretary Austin to improve the defense readiness of US troops in the region to minimize the risk of a major regional war.
5:01 p.m.: Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) expressed concern about the situation in the region after the killing of Hezbollah boss Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli air strike. “There is a threat of destabilization of the entire Lebanon, and that is in no way in the interest of Israel’s security,” said Baerbock in the ARD’s “Report from Berlin”. “The situation is extremely dangerous. There is a risk that this entire region will slip further into the absolute spiral of violence.”
Baerbock pointed out that Germany, together with the USA, France and several Arab states, had presented a proposal for an immediate three-week ceasefire on Thursday on the sidelines of the UN general debate in New York. The aim was to prevent further escalation. “The opposite has happened now,” said Baerbock on the ARD show.
Senior Iranian commander killed in Beirut attack
2:44 p.m.: Israel’s attack on the alleged Hezbollah headquarters probably had more than just Lebanese victims. As various pro-government Iranian Telegram channels report, Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan is said to have died in the attack on Friday evening.
Nilforoushan was the deputy commander for operations of the so-called Iranian Revolutionary Guard. He was also one of the acting commanders of the Quds Brigade, an elite Iranian force in Syria and Lebanon.
1:30 p.m.: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei believes Lebanon’s Hezbollah is “invincible.” “The criminal Zionists (Israelis) should know that they are incapable of damaging the stable structure of Hezbollah as the leader of the resistance front,” Khamenei said in a press release, according to the Irna news agency.
