Israeli military launches new strikes on southern Beirut
Earlier, we received reports that more air attacks have taken place in Beirut’s Dahiyeh area.
The Israeli military in a statement now says it conducted another attack in the area, which is home to about 700,000 people. Israel destroyed several residential buildings on Friday, killing at least 11 people and wounding more than 100.
The casualty figures are expected to rise with search teams struggling to find bodies in the debris. Attacks by fighter jets continued on Saturday after the army said it told Lebanese residents to evacuate three more buildings.
Israel’s long-term strategy in Lebanon remains unclear
The killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has been hailed as a victory by Israel, but it remains unclear what ultimate victory looks like for Israel in Lebanon, according to Yezid Sayigh, senior analyst at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut.
“Hezbollah is not going to disappear and nothing Israel has done so far will make it disappear,” Sayigh told Al Jazeera. “At the end of all this, there will be a Hezbollah, which may be licking its wounds” but will inevitably rebuild and rearm.
One win for Israel would be the return to the terms of UN Resolution 1701 of 2006, by which Hezbollah must withdraw its forces north of the Litani River in southern Lebanon, the analyst said.
Another Israeli aim is to pressure Hezbollah to de-couple Gaza and Lebanon and accept a ceasefire without a cessation of hostilities in the besieged Strip.
“The question is, is Hezbollah now ready to de-link Gaza from Lebanon?” Sayigh asked. “I’m not convinced yet that Israel has secured that outcome.”
Next Hezbollah leader could be ‘more fierce’: Analyst
Hala Jaber, author of, Hezbollah: Born with a Vengeance, and a former correspondent for the Sunday Times, has told Al Jazeera from Beirut that losing Nasrallah is going to be “painful” for many people in Lebanon.
“There’s going to be grief, there is going to be sadness, there’s going to be emptiness because this leader has been on this journey with his people for 32 years,” she said.
“There is a generation that grew up with him … they listened to him, they supported him. He gave them hope, he gave them a voice, he gave them strength, he gave them freedom from an occupation.”
But Hezbollah is not based on one man, and the assassination of one man does not end the resistance, she said.
“Israel believes that by killing Nasrallah and his colleagues and other commanders, they have ended this organisation. But the history and the precedent has shown us that when one leader goes, another steps in,” Jaber added.
She said the new leadership is usually “more fierce, more determined and more ferocious”. Jaber said that was what happened when Hezbollah’s previous leader [Abbas] al-Musawi was assassinated by Israel in 1992 and Nasrallah took over.
“He led it, he reformed it, he matured it and he brought it to where it is today, a formidable organisation,” she said.
It 's what Netanyahu wants anyway, perpetual war.
