New Hezbollah chief Hashem Safieddine killed in Israeli strike : Report

In a major development, Hezbollah's new chief Hashem Saffiedine was killed in an Israeli strike at Hezhollah's intelligence headquarters in Beirut, the Saudi news organization Al Hadath reported on Saturday morning.

The strike was purportedly directed at Safiedine, who was Hassan Nasrallah's possible successor after he was assassinated a week ago.

Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire across the Lebanon border almost daily since the day after Hamas’ cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 Israelis and took 250 others hostage. Israel declared war on the Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip in response. As the Israel-Hamas war reaches the one-year mark, more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory, and just over half the dead have been women and children, according to local health officials.

Nearly 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon since then, most of them since Sept. 23, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

Rockets fired at north Israel air base

Hezbollah said its militants launched Fadi-1 rockets on Saturday at Israel's Ramat David air base near the northern city of Haifa, about 45 kilometres (30 miles) from the Lebanese border.

In a statement, the Iran-backed group also said its fighters hit an Israeli tank in south Lebanon, near the border, with a missile. (With inputs from agencies)