‘Muslims must pool talent for Ummah’

Jerusalem, Oct 28: Israel said on Sunday it was carrying out new air raids against civilians and Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, after assassinating resistance group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Hezbollah confirmed on Saturday that its leader Nasrallah was assassinated in an Israeli strike a day earlier on Beirut’s southern suburbs, dealing a massive blow to the group he had led for decades.

Lebanon has declared three days of mourning for Hassan Nasrallah.

The development marks a sharp escalation in nearly a year of tit-for-tat cross-border fire between Hezbollah and Israel, and risks plunging the whole region into a wider war.

Israel continued to pound Lebanon on Sunday, with the ruthless military confirming it attacked dozens of targets in the territory of Lebanon in the last few hours.

The military has attacked hundreds of Hezbollah targets throughout Lebanon since Saturday, it said, as it seeks to disable the group’s military operations and infrastructure.

Israel has raised the prospect of a ground operation against Hezbollah, prompting widespread international concern.

Sirens sounded all over the occupied territories on Tuesday night as Iran launched hundreds of missiles towards the Zionist entity, in a retaliatory attack dubbed Operation True Promise II. 

Meanwhile, Israeli officials have promised to respond after Iran fired a barrage of ballistic missiles at key military and security targets in Israel.

Flares and missiles were seen in the Tel Aviv sky and explosions could be heard in the occupied al-Quds, sending Zionist settlers fleeing into shelters.

The Israel Airports Authority said that no aircraft will be allowed to take off or arrive at all Israeli airports. Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported “direct hits” in Negev, Sharon and other locations from Iran’s attack.

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) issued a statement shortly after the missile attack began.

It said in response to the martyrdom of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyah, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and IRGC commander Abbas Nilforoushan, the IRGC Aerospace Force launched dozens of ballistic missiles targeting key military and intelligence bases in the heart of the occupied territories.

The IRGC further said that the attack was in line with the country’s right to legitimate self-defense as per the United Nations Charter, and in response to the regime's escalating crimes—backed by the United States—against the people of Lebanon and Gaza.

The Zionist regime will face more crushing attacks in case it reacts to Iran’s operation, the IRGC added.

In a follow-up statement, the IRGC said three Israeli military bases in Tel Aviv were hit during the operation.

In this operation, a number of air and radar bases, as well as centers for conspiracy and assassination planning against resistance leaders and IRGC commanders were targeted, the statement said.

The IRGC noted that even though the designated areas were shielded by advanced defense systems, 90% of the missiles shot successfully hit their targets.

“The Zionist regime has been terrified by the intelligence and operational dominance of the Islamic Republic,” it added.

The Iranian mission to the United Nations said in a statement that the missile attack was a “legal, rational, and legitimate” response to the terrorist acts of the Zionist regime.

It also warned the Israeli regime that a more “crushing” response would ensue should it dare to respond or commit further acts of malevolence.

Celebratory gunfire erupted in southern Beirut, where Hezbollah chief Nasrallah was killed in a massive Israeli airstrike last week, following Iran’s retaliatory attack.

“Heavy gunfire heard from automatic weapons from areas of the southern suburbs, rejoicing in the missile launch from Iran towards Israel,” Lebanon’s National News Agency said.

The Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah says it targeted Israel's Glilot military base and Mossad headquarters in the outskirts of Tel Aviv with salvos of Fadi-4 rockets.

Israeli reports said several settlers were injured in the rocket barrage from Lebanon on Tel Aviv.

The reports said the rocket attack from Lebanon was “the largest” since the beginning of the war.

Hezbollah earlier said it struck gatherings of Israeli troopers in artillery and rocket attacks on the northern part of the occupied Palestinian territories in retaliation for Israel’s deadly strikes on Lebanon.

In separate statements released on Tuesday, the resistance movement said the gatherings of the enemy troops were hit at the Shtula, Metulla, Avivim and Rosh Pina settlements.

The resistance also targeted the Doviv barracks with a Falaq-2 rockets as well as the gathering of Israeli forces near the settlement of Rosh Pina with a rocket barrage.

The resistance group added that it had conducted the operations in support of “steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and … their valiant and honorable resistance, and in defense of Lebanon and its people.”

The attacks came amid a major escalation in Israel’s acts of terror and aggression in Lebanon that saw the regime assassinating Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike on southern Beirut.

The death toll from Israeli aerial assaults across Lebanon since early October 2023 has reached 1,745 with some 8,767 injured, according to Lebanese government data. In response, Hezbollah has fired barrages of rockets and drones towards Israeli targets.

The deadly exchange of fire was sparked by Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, which has killed 41,615 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and wounded 96,359 others over the past year.