Iran's top leader: Israel is insignificant - can't hurt
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei has spoken out after Israel's information that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is dead. Reuters reports.
- Israel is far too insignificant to be able to cause greater damage to Hezbollah, he says according to Reuters.
Khamenei did not directly address Nasrallah's death in the statement but said it is the duty of all Muslims to support Hezbollah by all available means. He also believes that the fate of the region is determined by the resistance to Israel and that Hezbollah is in the front line of that resistance.
According to Reuters, Ayatollah Khamenei has been moved to a safe place, and security in Iran has been tightened.
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The children seek shelter from the bombs in Lebanon - had to sleep on the pavement
Hundreds of families have fled Beirut's southern suburbs and gathered in Martyrs Square in central Beirut. Now an uncertain future awaits them, reports the New York Times.
- Nobody has a clue of what to do. We would like to return but it is not safe, says Zakiya Khattab, 67.
She has fled the suburb of Dahiya, where Hezbollah has a lot of support and where Israel carried out extensive airstrikes on Friday. She spent the night on a sidewalk with her son Ayoub Merhe and his family. The children were shivering from the cold in the raw sea air, according to Ayoub Merhe.
Although the future is now uncertain, the family was prepared, says Merhe.
- We have lived with war all our lives. We are used to it.
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Expert: Greatest success for Israel in war - in 50 years
If the IDF's information that Hassan Nasrallah is dead is correct, it represents the biggest Israeli military success in 50 years. That's what Middle East expert Anders Persson tells Expressen.
- It is spectacular and remarkable, he tells the newspaper.
Middle East expert Alexander Atarodi calls it an "enormous setback" for Hezbollah, in an interview with Aftonbladet.
- If this had happened a year ago, it would have been possible to replace him. But right now, when the group is so squeezed from so many sides, it's difficult. Never before have so many been killed in such a short time, he tells the newspaper.
According to Atarodi, it will take a long time for Hezbollah to repair the damage of the losses of the last few days.
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Analysis: All eyes on Iran - calls for revenge
Hezbollah's silence regarding the information about the death of the leader Hassan Nasrallah is telling, says Sky News' Alistair Bunkall. After Israel claimed on Saturday that Nasrallah was killed in connection with the attack in Beirut yesterday, the Shia militia and Iran are now at a crossroads.
Bunkall believes that it is still unclear which way Iran will go. Either Iran chooses to avenge Nasrallah's death with a full-scale attack on Israel or they change course.
- Iran could decide that Israel has had such successful weeks that it would be better to withdraw, lick the wounds and rebuild the group to fight another day, he says.
In the BBC, Frank Gardner writes that Israel's announcement means a new escalation.
"There will be calls for revenge and all eyes will now be on Iran to see how they react," he writes.
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The Middle East Crisis|Israel-Hezbollah
Hezbollah confirms: Israel has killed supreme leader Hassan Nasrallah
Hezbollah confirms that the group's top leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in Beirut on Friday, writes Reuters and refers to a statement from the militia group.
The group says in the statement that it will continue its fight against Israel "in support of Gaza and Palestine and to defend Lebanon and its people."
The Shia militia's own television channel began broadcasting verses from the Koran after the announcement, according to the news agency.
Earlier in the day, the Israeli military announced that Hassan Nasrallah, who was the target of Friday's air strike, had been killed.
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