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Iran's Khamenei condemns Israel's 'shortsighted' policy

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei condemned Saturday what he described as Israel's "short-sighted" policy after strikes on Lebanon that Israel said killed Hezbollah's chief Hassan Nasrallah.

"The massacre of the defenceless people in Lebanon once again revealed the ferocity of the Zionist rabid dog to everyone, and proved the short-sighted and stupid policy of the leaders of the usurping regime," Khamenei said in a statement, without mentioning Nasrallah's fate which has not been confirmed by the group.

Lebanon security source says new Israeli strike on Beirut

A new Israeli strike hit a building in Hezbollah's south Beirut bastion Saturday, a Lebanese security official told news agency AFP, after Israel earlier said it killed group leader Hassan Nasrallah during intense bombardment.

"A new Israeli strike targeted Beirut's southern suburbs," the official said, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, adding it hit "a building".

Israeli army says it eliminated Hamas network head in Syria

The Israeli army said on Saturday that it had eliminated the head of the Palestinian Hamas's network in southern Syria, whom it referred to as Ahmad Muhammad Fahd, overnight on Friday.

Hezbollah claims rocket attack on north Israel after strikes

Hezbollah on Saturday claimed a rocket attack on northern Israel, the first after heavy Israeli strikes pounded Beirut's southern suburbs overnight.

"Defending Lebanon and its people, and responding to the barbaric" Israeli attacks "on cities and villages and civilians", Hezbollah fighters targeted kibbutz Kabri in northern Israel "with a salvo of Fadi-1 rockets", the group said in a statement.

Iran's Supreme Leader moved to secure location, reports say

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been transferred to a secure location inside the country with heightened security measures in place, two regional officials briefed by Tehran told news agency Reuters.

The sources said Iran was in constant contact with Lebanon's Hezbollah and other regional proxy groups to determine the next step after Israel announced that it had killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in a strike on south Beirut on Friday.

Health ministry in Gaza says war death toll at 41,586

The health ministry in Gaza said on Saturday that at least 41,586 people have been killed in Israel's war on the Palestinian territory, now in its 12th month.

The toll includes 52 deaths in the previous 48 hours, according to the ministry, which said 96,210 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since October of last year.

Hezbollah-affliated sources: Contact with Nasrallah 'lost'

A source close to Lebanon's Hezbollah group said Saturday contact had been lost since last evening with chief Hassan Nasrallah, after Israel said it had "eliminated" him in a strike on the group's southern Beirut bastion.

"Contact with Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has been lost since Friday evening," said the source, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. He did not confirm whether Nasrallah had been killed.

Israel's military says Nasrallah killed in overnight strike

Israeli forces have killed Lebanon's Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the military's Arabic-speaking spokesperson Avichay Adraee said on Saturday, a day after an Israeli strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut.

"Hassan Nasrallah is dead," military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani announced on X.

Military spokesman Captain David Avraham also confirmed to news agency AFP that the Hezbollah chief had been "eliminated" following strikes Friday on the Lebanese capital.

Smoke rose from Beirut’s southern suburbs Saturday morning

Smoke rose from Beirut’s southern suburbs Saturday morning and the streets were empty after the area was pummeled overnight by heavy Israeli airstrikes.

Explosions rocked Beirut’s southern suburbs, with flames lighting up the pre-dawn darkness.

Fire raged from at least one location, and smoke and flames were seen from above Beirut early Saturday. Residents reported jets flying overhead.

In a short statement, the Israeli military described the sites it hit as belonging to Hezbollah. Authorities there did not immediately acknowledge if there were any casualties.

According to news reports, shelters set up in the city center for people displaced by the onslaught were overflowing.

Many families slept in public squares and beaches, or in their cars.

On the roads leading to the mountains above the capital, hundreds of people could be seen making an exodus on foot, holding infants and whatever belongings they could carry.

Lebanon urges medical centres to prepare for casualties

Patients in hospitals in Beirut’s southern suburbs will be evacuated to medical centers in the capital and the nearby Mount Lebanon region, Lebanon’s Health Ministry says.

In a statement carried by state news agency early Saturday, the ministry called on hospitals in Beirut and Mount Lebanon to stop receiving cases that can be delayed in order to receive patients evacuating from the hard-hit southern suburb Dahiyeh.

The ministry’s decision came after a night of Israeli airstrikes on Dahiyeh, a predominantly Shiite district.

The ministry also called on hospitals and medical centers to care for ill people who fled Dahiyeh overnight as a result of the airstrikes.