Defiance, but a rare admission of vulnerability – Hezbollah chief’s message means devastation will continue
The unscheduled speech by the Hezbollah leader was revealing as much as it was defiant.
It came after back-to-back days of booby-trapped communication devices exploding across Lebanon.
Dozens have been killed – fighters and supporters as well as women and at least two children.
This was the first time his fighting group was to hear from its head after two days of terror and a great deal of shock at the unprecedented method of attack.
Hassan Nasrallah’s speeches, broadcast through the Hezbollah television channel, tend to attract thousands in public gatherings, which are a chance for his fervent supporters to demonstrate their loyalty.
The gatherings are usually marked by much cheering and chanting.
Not this time – perhaps because of the security risk after the group’s communication network was so demonstrably compromised, there was no large public gathering.
Instead, huddles gathered around televisions in their homes and cafes to listen to what the head of one of the most powerful non-state fighting groups had to say.
Nasrallah himself always delivers his speeches remotely for the same security reasons.
From his secret location, the religious and military leader known for his long, rousing speeches admitted the superiority of Israel’s technological ability.
‘Unprecedented blow’
He accepted how much of an impact the string of pager explosions and those of hand-held radios had exacted on his outfit – designated a terror group by the US and UK.
He called the explosions “severe” and admitted they’d delivered an “unprecedented” blow to his group.
To his tens of thousands of followers, these are words they probably never expected to hear from their leader, who’s spent years boasting of the group’s military capabilities and strengths.
In recent speeches, he’s told his loyalists how they have a fighting force of more than 100,000 and urged fighters from abroad who wanted to come and join Hezbollah in the war with Israel that they didn’t need them.
“We have enough,” he’s said. “We can do it on our own.”
An admission of vulnerability from Hassan Nasrallah is a very rare statement.
And even as the cafes of south Beirut were packed while they listened to the Hezbollah leader vow revenge and “just punishment” against their neighbour, Israeli jets flew low and noisily over the capital, Beirut – at one stage causing sonic booms, setting off car alarms and causing fresh anxiety among an already edgy population.
Hezbollah has launched an internal investigation into how their communications network was so comprehensively infiltrated.
He’d already warned his followers to stop using their mobile phones back in February when the group suspected they were being tracked after several commanders were killed.
‘Red lines’
Less surprising was Nasrallah’s defiance – a trademark not of his but, it seems, most of his supporters.
He denounced Israel for what he called a massacre that “crossed all red lines”, saying civilians were among the victims and the pagers and radios were blown up in a range of public spaces – markets, shops, homes and hospitals.
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And he ominously went on to warn his group would not let the Israelis return their citizens to the north.
In nearly a year of tit-for-tat cross-border attacks since Hezbollah entered the war saying they were supporting the Palestinians in Gaza, thousands of residents in both Israel and Lebanon have been forced out of their communities on either side of the border because of the attacks.
The Israeli prime minister and his defence minister have both vowed to return Israeli citizens to their border homes, with Yoav Gallant declaring a “new phase of the war” – although Israel has not publicly accepted responsibility for the device explosions.
But Hassan Nasrallah indicated that plan is likely to lead to a long and bloody battle.
“No killings, no assassinations, no all-out war can return residents to the border,” he vowed.
And that seems to signal there’ll be no let-up in the deaths and devastation.
Additional reporting from Beirut with camera Jake Britton, specialist producer Chris Cunningham and Lebanon team Jihad Jneid, Hwaida Saad and Sami Zein
A helicopter carrying Hindu pilgrims has crashed in India, killing seven people on board.
The accident happened within minutes of the helicopter taking off, officials said, on what should have been a 10-minute flight.
The helicopter was flying to Guptkashi, a prominent Hindu pilgrimage site in the Himalayas, from Kedarnath temple town in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand.
It comes three days after an Air India flight crashed less than a minute after taking off from Ahmedabad airport in northwestern India, killing at least 270 people.
The helicopter, which was operated by private helicopter service Aryan Aviation, went down in a forested area several miles from the Kedarnath pilgrimage route at around 5.30am local time.
Officials said the crash was believed to have been caused by poor weather conditions.
Authorities say they have launched a search and rescue operation and are expected to review operational protocols for flights in the region.
The dead include the pilot and pilgrims from the neighbouring state of Uttar Pradesh and western states of Maharashtra and Gujarat, according to officials. The bodies were badly burned in a fire that followed the crash, they said.
Smoke and debris at the site. Pic: Reuters
Tens of thousands of pilgrims visit Kedarnath, which is home to one of the four most sacred Hindu temple shrines, each summer. Many use helicopter services due to the difficult mountainous terrain.
Helicopter mishaps are not uncommon in the region, where sudden weather changes and high-altitude flying conditions can pose risks.
Earlier this month, a helicopter operating in the Kedarnath Valley made an emergency landing shortly after taking off on a highway due to a technical fault. The pilot was injured but all five passengers on board were unharmed.
In May, a helicopter crashed in Uttarkashi district, killing six people, including the pilot. One person survived.
An Irish politician who was detained in Egypt trying to cross into Gaza says the police were violent towards the group after seizing his phone.
People Before Profit-Solidarity TD (MP) Paul Murphy was part of a large demonstration attempting to march to the Rafah crossing in a bid to get aid into the region.
The opposition politician said his phone and passport were confiscated on Friday before he was put on a bus to Cairo airport for deportation.
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Footage of the seconds before his phone was seized shows authorities forcibly dragging protesters away from the sit-down demonstration.
Ireland’s deputy premier said several Irish citizens who were detained have now been released. Mr Murphy confirmed he was among the released protesters, posting a photo on his Facebook page saying he was back in Cairo and “meeting shortly to decide next steps”.
In a message from Mr Murphy after he was detained, posted online by his social media team, he said: “I’m ok, but they still have my phone.
“Egyptian police say we’re going to airport but this isn’t the road we came on because there are 1000s of marchers on the streets. They’re taking us south past a lake, then west towards Cairo.
“Violence got worse after they seized my phone.
“One American woman in my group was badly kicked & beaten, and had her hijab torn off.”
Sky News has contacted Egypt’s police regarding Mr Murphy’s claims of violence towards the group.
Mr Murphy previously said other Irish citizen were among those who had been stopped from entering Gaza.
“The world has watched a horrific genocide for the past 20 months. Since March, a total attempt of starvation,” he added.
“And that this is a peaceful march to demand that it be ended and demand that western governments stop their complicity.”
Appeal to foreign affairs minister
Mr Murphy’s partner, Councillor Jess Spear, had previously appealed to Ireland’s Foreign Affairs Minister and deputy premier Simon Harris to make a public statement on Mr Murphy’s detention.
She expressed “relief” that the group had been released from detention.
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The deadly road to Gaza aid point
She said: “However, they still want to reach Rafah to try and get humanitarian aid into Gaza. That has been the sole purpose of being in Egypt.
“Paul has appealed to Tanaiste Simon Harris to put pressure on the Egyptian authorities to let the marchers reach Rafah. The situation of the people of Gaza worsens by the day as they suffer starvation imposed by Israel.”
Why did Israel attack Iran? Certainly, it was worried about the threat of a nuclear weapon being developed.
But it’s also becoming clearer that there was a second reason – that this is about laying the ground for regime change in Tehran.
Follow latest: Israel warns ‘Tehran will burn’ if it continues
Because, hours after his country launched its first, surprise attack, the message from Benjamin Netanyahu couldn’t be clearer – Iranians, he said, should overthrow their “evil and oppressive regime”. He said Israel’s attack would “pave the way for you to achieve your freedom”.
On the one hand, he would say that, wouldn’t he? The Iranian government does not recognise the legitimacy of the Israeli state and has called for its destruction, while funding proxy groups that have attacked Israel – including Hamas, Lebanese Hezbollah, and the Houthis in Yemen.
But perhaps this time there is more than just wishful thinking.
Although it’s very hard to gauge the level of opposition in Iran, it seems likely the majority of the population of 90 million are at least disenchanted with the regime.
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Netanyahu calls on Iranians to help “thwart” Tehran regime
Living standards have fallen and supplies are running short. While tens of billions of dollars have been spent on a nuclear programme, electricity is being rationed and cooking gas is running low.
Priority is being given to those who are close to the regime, notably the members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a branch of the Iranian army that is fiercely loyal to the ruling regime.
The IRGC are crucial in propping up Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s 86-year-old supreme leader. Not only do they offer military power, but also domestic surveillance, intimidation and secret policing in order to stifle dissent.
So for any opposition to emerge, let alone flourish, the IRGC would need to be degraded – and that is precisely what Israel has done, targeting its senior leaders as well as bases.
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The regular army, so far, has been left alone. Israel’s gamble is that a majority of the rest of the military harbour the same dislike of the IRGC as the wider population.
It was no coincidence that Netanyahu quoted the expression “woman, life, freedom”, which was a rallying call during the 2022 protests in Iran – eventually suppressed by the IRGC.
It is very hard to believe that a coherent, public opposition movement will burst into life any time soon. Iranians are well aware their regime will respond with brutality against any attempted uprising.
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Iranian ballistic missile strikes Israel
Instead, dissidents seem to be biding their time and waiting to see if Israel continues its assaults, and whether they can sense genuine signs that the regime is starting to struggle to maintain control. If the cracks emerge, then regime change – or at least an attempt – is possible.
Possible, but not certain. “They will do anything to stay in power, and when other uprisings have happened, they’ve been successfully suppressed,” one Middle East diplomat tells me.
“And there is no unifying leader ready to step in. Even if there is regime change, it could be a military takeover rather than a popular uprising.”
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And that leaves one final question – if Khamenei did feel his grip on power was failing, might he still have the time, desire and power to resort to final, desperate military actions? The truth is, we don’t know.
At the moment, the Middle East is a region full of unanswerable, high-risk questions.
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