Israel is now waging war on three battle fronts in the Middle East – in Lebanon, Gaza and Yemen – with the world’s eyes on how Iran may retaliate to a series of humiliating blows against it.
Not only has a series of attacks in Lebanon this week killed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, they have also nearly wiped out the group’s senior military leadership, according to reports.
The Israeli military said on Sunday that it had killed seven senior leaders of the Lebanese militant group since 20 September, including Nasrallah, who was Hezbollah’s leader for 32 years.
On Sunday evening, hundreds of Israel’s tanks have gathered on the country’s northern border with Lebanon, suggesting Tel Aviv is planning a ground invasion of its neighbour, The Times reported.
The United States issued a last-minute appeal to both sides for restraint, warning Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, that war would not return 60,000 displaced Israelis to their homes in the north of the country.
A prominent general in Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard was also killed in the Israeli air strike that targeted Nasrallah in Beirut on Friday.
It remains unclear how Iran will respond, but its foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, has vowed that the Israeli attacks “will not go unanswered”.
While Israel continued its barrage against Hezbollah in Lebanon over the weekend, the Israeli military targeted Houthi fighters – another Iranian-based group – in Yemen, 2,000km away.
The attack on Sunday, which hit the port city of Hodeidah, was in retaliation for recent Houthi missile strikes aimed at targets in Israel, the Israeli military said.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) confirmed dozens of Israeli Air Force aircraft, including fighter jets and spy planes, had participated in the strikes against infrastructure and ports that it claimed were being used to transport Iranian weapons.
“The IDF attacked power plants and a port, which are used to import oil. Through the targeted infrastructure and ports, the Houthi regime transfers Iranian weapons to the region, and supplies for military purposes, including oil,” the Israel military said.
The Houthi movement has repeatedly fired missiles and drones at Israel in what they say is solidarity with Palestinians, since the Gaza war began on 7 October.
In a post on X, Mohammed Abdulsalam, a spokesperson for the Houthis, said the Israeli strikes on Sunday would not cause the group to “abandon Gaza and Lebanon”.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt-Gen Herzi Halevi said Israel has the capability to reach enemies based even further away. “We know how to reach very far, we know how to reach even farther, and we know how to strike there accurately,” he said during a meeting with senior officers.
The attacks against Hezbollah and Yemen – both part of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance”, a collection of factions and governments that include the Palestinian group Hamas – mark a game-changing moment for the region, and a victory for Israel.
But it ushers in one of the most dangerous periods for the Middle East in nearly a year of conflict, resetting the balance in Israel’s proxy war with Iran.
Iran’s leadership is divided over what to do next, with hardliners wanting a strong response, including a direct attack on Israel, while moderates are urging restraint, the New York Times reported, citing sources.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been taken to a secure location inside the country amid heightened security, sources told Reuters, signalling a sense of extreme anxiety in Tehran as it decides its next steps.
Khamenei was deeply shaken by Nasrallah’s death and was in mourning, four Iranian officials told the New York Times. In public, Khamenei signalled that it would be Hezbollah, not Iran, that would be leading any response to Israel, and that Tehran would play a supporting role.
“It will be Hezbollah, at the helm of the resistance forces, that will determine the fate of the region,” he said.
Mr Netanyahu expressed hope that “Israel is winning”, but warned that “difficult days are still ahead”.
“We should not forget that we are still in the midst of a difficult war, the costs of which are heavy,” he said.
Lebanon ‘experiencing the largest wave of displacement in its history’
One million people in Lebanon – a fifth of the country’s population, have fled their homes as a result of the Israeli strikes, according to the Lebanese government.
“Lebanon is experiencing the largest wave of displacement in its history,” caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, said on Sunday.
“Our priority is to stop the ongoing Israeli aggression through continued diplomatic efforts. We have no other choice.”
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, said more than 1,400 Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian refugees “are now sheltering in seven” of its facilities.
“Many are traumatised and scared,” the agency said in a post on X.
The UN World Food Programme began an emergency operation to provide food for those affected by the conflict.
In Gaza, meanwhile, at least four Palestinians were killed and several injured in an Israeli air strike on a school north of the enclave sheltering displaced civilians, according to local health officials.
The attack on Sunday targeted the Umm al-Fahm School in the town of Beit Lahia. The Israeli military acknowledged the attack, claiming that it targeted a Hamas command centre.
It brings the death toll in Gaza to 41,600, according to Palestinian health authorities.
