The assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon shows that no place in the Middle East is beyond the reach of Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned in a televised address on Saturday.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) killed the leader of the Lebanese militant group in a bombing of an underground compound in Beirut. Hezbollah confirmed Nasrallah’s death on Saturday.
Netanyahu warned Iran – referring to it as the “ayatollahs’ regime” – that Israel will retaliate against any state that threatens it.
“Those who strike at us, we will strike at them. There is nowhere in Iran or the Middle East beyond the reach of the long arm of Israel, and today you know how true that is.”
The killing of Nasrallah serves as an additional message to Hamas, Netanyahu said. “The more that Hamas political chief Yahya Sinwar realizes that Hezbollah is no longer coming to save him, the greater the chances for the return of our hostages.”
The prime minister cautioned Israelis, however, that the coming days will be difficult. “We will face significant challenges in the days ahead and will meet them,” he said, calling it a “historical turning point.”
According to sources from ABC News, the IDF may be planning a ground operation against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Hezbollah and Israel have engaged in increasingly frequent cross-border strikes recently, raising concerns of a full-scale conflict since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war last October.
Tensions escalated earlier in September when thousands of pagers and handheld radios detonated across Lebanon, resulting in dozens of deaths and thousands of injuries. The UN condemned the attacks as “unacceptable,” with the organization’s human rights chief, Volker Turk, calling for a thorough investigation.
While Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement, the covert attack is widely believed to have been conducted by Israeli intelligence.