Israeli military says it has killed nephew of Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem

Israel said on Thursday it had killed the nephew of Naim Qassem, the leader of the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, in a strike on Beirut overnight.

 

"The IDF struck in the Beirut area and eliminated Ali Yusuf Harshi, the personal secretary and nephew of Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem," the military said. 

Israel struck Beirut's southern suburbs just before midnight and at dawn, and hit towns across the south on Thursday morning, Lebanese state media said.

 

For its part, Hezbollah, which had initially said it would pause attacks on Israel in line with the ceasefire, said it was resuming them on Thursday morning and had fired once across the border into Israel and twice at Israeli forces in southern Lebanon.

 

 

Rescuers across Lebanon were working through the night to try to save wounded people trapped under rubble of destroyed buildings after the Israeli attacks, which hit heavily populated areas without customary warnings for civilians to flee.

 

"This is my place, this is my house, I've been living here like more than 51 years. So, everything destroyed. See?" said Naim Chebbo, sweeping shattered glass and debris from his home in Beirut after strikes destroyed the building next door.