Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said in a video address that Israeli strikes had ‘taken out’ the successors of the assassinated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on 27 September. Netanyahu also addressed the people of Lebanon directly and told them to ‘free’ the country from the Iran-backed militant group.
Earlier, Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said Hashem Safieddine, the man expected to replace Nasrallah, had probably been ‘eliminated’. At least 1,400 Lebanese people, including civilians, medics and Hezbollah fighters, have been killed and 1.2 million – about a quarter of the population – have been driven from their homes since Israel’s offensive began