Israeli official claims strikes in Beirut target potential new Hezbollah leader.

 

### What We’re Covering

- Israeli strikes in Beirut overnight targeted Hashem Safieddine, a potential successor to the late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, according to an Israeli official speaking to CNN. It remains unclear whether he was killed.

 

- An air warfare expert noted that Israel’s aerial campaign in Lebanon is being conducted at an intensity comparable only to the early stages of last year’s bombardment in Gaza.

- An Israeli airstrike disrupted traffic near the main Lebanon-Syria border crossing, as reported by a Lebanese official. Tens of thousands have fled through this checkpoint, with 1 million displaced individuals seeking safety from the ongoing bombardment.

 

- A US official stated that the US does not believe Israel has determined its response to this week’s missile attack from Iran. This attack resulted in the destruction of at least three buildings at Netavim Air Base in southern Israel and left at least a dozen craters, according to a CNN analysis.

The Lebanese army reports that it responded to Israeli fire after the death of one of its soldiers.

The Lebanese army announced that its forces responded after one of its soldiers was killed by an Israeli attack on a military facility in southern Lebanon on Thursday.

 

The soldier died "due to the Israeli enemy targeting an army center in the Bint Jbeil area," and the post personnel returned fire at the sources, the Lebanese Armed Forces stated on Friday.

 

CNN has reached out to the Israeli military for a response.

 

Additionally, another Lebanese soldier was killed in a separate incident on Thursday while conducting a rescue and evacuation mission with the Red Cross, according to the army.

Thousands assemble for a rare Friday prayer service to be led by Iran's Supreme Leader.

Thousands have gathered at Tehran’s Grand Mosque for a Friday prayer service to be led by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as shown in visuals broadcast by state media outlet IRIB.

 

Khamenei is also expected to lead a commemoration for slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut last Friday.

 

Before the service, several speakers recited prayers and poetry, with some referring to Nasrallah’s death as martyrdom, a revered concept in Islam.

The crowd displayed numerous Lebanese and Palestinian flags

This marks Khamenei's first time leading Friday prayers since January 2020, when he did so following Iran's missile strikes on a US army base in Iraq in retaliation for the assassination of Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani.

Israel instructs residents of additional villages in southern Lebanon to relocate north.

Israel's military has ordered residents of over 30 villages in southern Lebanon to evacuate their homes and move north on Friday as it engages Hezbollah fighters in a cross-border ground incursion.

 

Some of the villages listed in the new order had already been included in previous Israeli warnings to relocate.

 

“For your safety, evacuate your homes immediately and head north of the Al-Awali River. Save your lives,” stated Avichay Adraee, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) Arabic-language spokesperson, on X.

 

“Anyone near Hezbollah members, facilities, or military equipment is at risk. Any house used by Hezbollah for military purposes may be targeted,” he added.

 

Adraee assured that the Israeli military would notify residents when it was safe to return to their homes.

 

Approximately 1 million displaced people in Lebanon are seeking refuge from the conflict.

 

Nearly half of those in emergency shelters for displaced individuals are children, and facilities are operating beyond capacity, according to Michael Adams, Lebanon country director for the humanitarian agency CARE International, who spoke to CNN on Thursday.

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