No place in Iran or Middle East that Israel will not reach: Netanyahu

Following the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a precision strike by Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a warning to Iran's Ayatollah regime and asserted that those who target Israel will face consequences and that no location in Iran or the Middle-East (West Asia) is beyond Israel's reach.

Netanyahu made his first public comments on Saturday after an Israeli airstrike killed Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah, in Beirut. "There is no place in Iran or the Middle East that the long arm of Israel will not reach, and today you already know how true this is," he added.

Speaking from the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv on Saturday, Netanyahu said Israel's assassination of the Hezbollah leader "settled accounts with those responsible for the murder of countless Israelis and many citizens of other countries, including hundreds of Americans and dozens of Frenchmen". The Israeli prime minister also called Nasrallah's killing "a necessary condition for achieving the goals we have set".

Netanyahu was referring to tens of thousands of Israelis who have been displaced by cross-border fire in the north of the country. Last week, Israel made returning residents to their homes in the north an explicit war aim. "As long as Nasrallah lives, he would quickly restore the capabilities we took away from Hezbollah," Netanyahu said. "That's why I gave the directive — and Nasrallah is no longer with us."

Netanyahu made no reference to a US-led ceasefire proposal for the Israel-Lebanon border in his remarks, which come just a day after he made a combative speech at the United Nations General Assembly, vowing to continue the fight with Hezbollah — and swiping directly at Iran.

"I say to the Ayatollah's regime: whoever beat us, we will beat them," he said. The prime minister said Israel had arrived at a "historic turning point". "We are determined to continue to strike at our enemies, return our residents to their homes, and return all our abductees. We do not forget them for a moment," he added.

Meanwhile, United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres has said he was "gravely concerned" over the rising violence in the Middle East, urging all sides to halt the cycle of violence immediately. Sharing a post on X, Guterres said, "I'm gravely concerned by the dramatic escalation of events in Beirut in the last 24 hours. This cycle of violence must stop now. All sides must step back from the brink. The people of Lebanon, the people of Israel, as well as the wider region, cannot afford an all-out war."

In addition, UNICEF has sounded the alarm over the strikes in Beirut, condemning the recent escalation that has claimed thousands of lives. In a post on X, the UN's children's aid organisation said, "Tragedy upon tragedy in Lebanon. The recent escalation has killed and injured thousands and instilled an unimaginable fear in people. The children of Lebanon need an immediate de-escalation."

The IDF also eliminated senior Hezbollah intelligence array expert Hassan Khalil Yassin in a precision strike in the Dahiyeh district of Beirut on Saturday, the military reported, according to a report by Jerusalem Post. "Yassin stood at the head of a department responsible for the identification of civilian and military targets, on the northern border and deep within Israeli territory," the IDF said.

It added, "As part of his role, Yassin collaborated intensely with all of Hezbollah's offensive units, was personally involved in the planning of terror attacks that were executed during the war against Israeli civilians and soldiers, and planned additional attacks to be carried out in the coming days."

Meanwhile, Hezbollah has officially acknowledged the death of its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, following Israeli strikes on Beirut, according to a report by CNN. Hezbollah said on Saturday that its leader Nasrallah "has joined his fellow martyrs", and vowed that it would "continue the holy war against the enemy and in support of Palestine", Al Jazeera reported.