Netanyahu says Hezbollah leader’s killing was ‘essential’ to Israel

Tel Aviv: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says assassinating Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah became an “essential condition” for Israel to achieve its war goals.

In his first public remarks since the assassination, Netanyahu said the killings of top Hezbollah commanders was not enough and he decided Nasrallah also needed to be killed.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly.Credit: AP

He blamed Nasrallah for being “the architect” of a plan to “annihilate” Israel.

The Israeli military also revealed that another high-ranking Hezbollah official was also killed on Saturday.

The military said Nabil Kaouk, the deputy head of Hezbollah’s Central Council, was killed in an airstrike. There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah.

Tension along Israel’s border with Lebanon remained high in the aftermath of Nasrallah’s death.

Small-scale operations or “border movements” by Israel along Lebanon’s frontier designed to take out Hezbollah positions have begun or are about to, ABC US, citing two US officials, reported on Sunday afternoon AEST.

The Israeli government is under pressure to allow tens to thousands of Israelis in the northern part of the country to return home after they were displaced by fighting and threats from rockets since the beginning of Israel’s war with Hamas on October 7.

Lebanese and Palestinian men hold portraits of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah as they shout slogans during a protest against his assassination, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon.Credit: AP

Attacks on Hezbollah targets by fighter jets continued on Saturday after the army said it told residents to evacuate three buildings it was targeting, as Israel braced for Hezbollah’s response.

Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, commenting on the killing of Nasrallah, said on Sunday that what Iran terms resistance groups will continue to confront Israel with the help of Iran, according to Iranian state media.

The tally of people who have been killed in Lebanon since the conflict escalated less than two weeks ago ranges from 700 to 1000, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

A woman watches over sleeping children sheltering outside after being displaced by Israeli airstrikes in Beirut, Lebanon. Credit: Getty Images

Hezbollah gave no immediate indication of who might succeed Nasrallah. Senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine has long been regarded as heir apparent. The group has not issued any statement on Safieddine’s status or that of any other Hezbollah leaders – apart from Nasrallah – since the attack.

Smoke was still rising from Beirut’s southern suburbs on Saturday morning, visible to many of the families who had fled their homes there the night before to escape Israel’s massive bombardment.

Many looked in vain for space in one of the overflowing schools-turned-shelters. By the morning, hundreds of families were sleeping in public squares, on beaches or in cars around Beirut.

Lines of people trudged up to the mountains above the Lebanese capital, holding infants and a few belongings.

The people escaping Friday night’s mayhem joined tens of thousands who have fled to Beirut and other areas of southern Lebanon in the past week to escape Israel’s bombardment.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong is representing Australia at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.Credit: AP

The United Nations says the number of those displaced by the conflict from southern Lebanon has more than doubled and now stands at more than 211,000. At least 20 primary healthcare centres have shut down in hard-hit areas of Lebanon, the UN Office for Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australia had joined the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and many other countries to call for a ceasefire in Lebanon and urged Israel to listen to the international community.

“It is true that Hezbollah is a terrorist organisation. It is true that they have not been complying with UN Security Council resolutions, but we see the horrific loss of life in Gaza, we see 11,000 children killed. The world does not want to see more civilian deaths,” she told Sky News on Sunday morning.

Wong said the endgame for the current conflict in the Middle East had to include a two-state solution to ensure peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians.

“What the international community is saying is that civilians must be protected, aid workers must be protected.”

Wong once again urged any Australians still in Lebanon to leave “by whatever means are available”, amid fears the conflict will escalate further.

US President Joe Biden said on Saturday that the Israeli strike that killed Nasrallah was a “measure of justice” for victims of a four-decade “reign of terror”.

US Vice President Kamala Harris earlier called Nasrallah “a terrorist with American blood on his hands”, while urging a diplomatic solution to stem the escalating tensions in the Middle East.

Smoke rises from a building following an Israeli airstrike in Beirut.Credit: Getty Images

In Iraq, on Saturday, hundreds of protesters tried to cross into the fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, where the US embassy is based, in anger over Nasrallah’s assassination in the Israeli airstrike.

Iran-backed Iraqi militias have periodically launched drone attacks on bases housing US troops in protest over Washington’s support for Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

A protest in Karachi, Pakistan, against the killing of NasrallahCredit: AP

Late on Wednesday (US time), the US, France and other allies jointly called for an immediate 21-day ceasefire to allow for negotiations.

Hezbollah began striking Israel a day after Hamas’ October 7 attack in an act of solidarity with the Palestinians.

Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 41,500 Palestinians and wounded more than 96,000 others, according to the latest figures released on Thursday by the Health Ministry.

The ministry, part of Gaza’s Hamas government, does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but more than half the dead have been women and children, including about 1300 children under the age of two.

Israel has maintained that its military operations are justified and necessary to defend itself.

“This war can come to an end now. All that has to happen is for Hamas to surrender, lay down its arms and release all the hostages,” Netanyahu told the UN on Saturday. “But if they don’t, if they don’t, we will fight until we achieve total victory. Total victory. There is no substitute for it.”

In an address steeped in talk of conflict, Netanyahu also made a lengthy appeal for Israeli relations with Saudi Arabia, echoing the content of his speech last year, when efforts towards that goal were under way.

AP, Reuters with James Massola

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