Israel strikes Yemen port, keeps up Lebanon assault

Israel said it bombed Houthi targets in Yemen on Sunday (Sep 29) and mounted further airstrikes in Lebanon, expanding its confrontation with Iran's allies in the region two days after killing Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

The airstrikes on Yemen's port of Hodeidah were a response to Houthi missile attacks on Israel in recent days, Israel said, amid fears that Middle East fighting could spin out of control and draw in Iran and the United States, Israel's main ally.

The Houthi-run health ministry said at least four people were killed and 29 wounded. The strikes took place as Israel attacked more targets in Lebanon, where its intensifying

Israel on Sunday vowed to keep up its assault.

"We need to keep hitting Hezbollah hard," Israel's military chief of staff Herzi Halevi said.

Israeli drones hovered over Beirut overnight and for much of Sunday, with the loud blasts of new airstrikes echoing around the Lebanese capital.

Hezbollah and Israel have been trading fire across the border since the start of the war in Gaza, which was triggered by the Oct 7 attack by Hamas militants. Yemen's Houthis have launched sporadic attacks on Israel throughout that time and disrupted Red Sea shipping.

Israel rapidly ramped up its attacks on Hezbollah two weeks ago, killing much of the group's leadership, as it aims to make its northern areas safe for residents to return to their homes. Israel's defence minister is now discussing widening the offensive.

Nasrallah's death dealt a particularly significant blow to the group he led for 32 years, and it was followed by new Hezbollah rocket fire on Israel.

Iran said his death would be avenged.

Analysts have said Iran looks unlikely to directly join the fray, albeit supporting its proxies – including those in Yemen and Syria – to continue striking Israel.

“Iran has not responded although everyone thought that they would after the assassination of Nasrallah,” said Nader Hashemi, associate professor of Middle East and Islamic politics at Georgetown University.

“It looks like Iran is going to play it safe for now and not give Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the excuse that he wants to broaden the war,” he told CNA’s Asia First programme.

Still, Hashemi said the conflict looks set to spread, with Israel possibly considering ground assault in southern Lebanon to create a buffer zone at its border, and expanding airstrikes to targets in Syria and as far as Tehran.

He added it is clear Netanyahu feels “very emboldened” by recent successes against Hezbollah, the inaction of the international community to interfere with the war in Gaza, and support from the US.

The US has urged a diplomatic resolution to the conflict in Lebanon but has also authorised its military to reinforce in the region.

US President Joe Biden, asked if an all-out war in the Middle East could be avoided, said: “It has to be."

He said he will be talking to Netanyahu.

US Senator Mark Kelly said the bomb that Israel used to kill Nasrallah was an American-made 900kg guided weapon.

In Iran, senior figures mourned the death of a senior Revolutionary Guards member killed alongside Nasrallah and Tehran called for a United Nations Security Council meeting on Israel's actions.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was moved to a secure location in Iran after Nasrallah's killing, sources told Reuters.

LEBANESE DEATHS
Nasrallah's body was recovered intact from the site of Friday's strike, a medical source and a security source told Reuters. Hezbollah has not said when his funeral will be held.

Nasrallah made Hezbollah into a powerful domestic force in Lebanon and helped turn it into the linchpin of Iran's network of allied groups in the Arab world.

Some Lebanese mourned him on Sunday.

"We lost the leader who gave us all the strength and faith that we, this small country that we love, could turn it into a paradise," said Lebanese Christian woman Sophia Blanche Rouillard, carrying a black flag to work in Beirut.

Lebanon's Health Ministry said more than 1,000 Lebanese have been killed and 6,000 wounded in the past two weeks, without saying how many were civilians. The government said a million people - a fifth of the population - have fled their homes.

In Beirut, some displaced families spent the night on the benches at Zaitunay Bay, a string of restaurants and cafes on Beirut's waterfront. On Sunday morning, families with nothing more than a duffle bag of clothes had rolled out mats to sleep on and made tea for themselves.

"You won't be able to destroy us, whatever you do, however much you bomb, however much you displace people - we will stay here. We won't leave. This is our country and we're staying," said Francoise Azori, a Beirut resident jogging through the area.

The UN World Food Programme began an emergency operation to provide food for those affected by the conflict.

Saudi Arabia and France said they were sending medical aid.