Hezbollah’s deputy chief signalled the group had entered a “new phase” in its battle with Israel as thousands gathered in Beirut for the funeral of a key commander killed in an airstrike on Friday.
The militant group’s second in command, Naim Qassem, vowed to press on with greater intensity with rocket attacks into northern Israel until there’s a ceasefire in Gaza.
Thousands listened in the Lebanese capital as he said Hezbollah had entered an “open-ended battle of reckoning” with its neighbour and vowed to hit back at Israel with even more power and force.
“Israel has targeted not only fighters but also children, paramedics, pharmacies, homes and all innocent lives,” he said. “Such actions cannot be justified.”
His tough rhetoric matched that of the Israeli prime minister – who promised in a video message: “Over the past few days, we hit Hezbollah with a string of strikes that it didn’t imagine.
“If Hezbollah didn’t get the message, I promise you, it will get the message,” Benjamin Netanyahu warned.
“We will do everything necessary to restore security” to the north, he said.
Image: Naim Qassem led prayers at the funeral. Pic: Reuters
Image: The funeral of senior Hezbollah senior leader Ibrahim Aqil was held on Sunday. Pic: Reuters
Hezbollah is the strongest militant group allied with Iran and is also an ally of Hamas.
It opened up a new front in the war when it started firing rockets into Israel the day after October’s Hamas attack on Israel, which killed more than 1,000 people and saw 250 taken hostage.
Image: Hezbollah fighters carry the coffin
It has repeatedly said it will not stop firing into Israel until there’s a ceasefire.
Friday’s Israeli airstrikes in the Hezbollah heartland of Beirut killed Ibrahim Aqil – one of its most senior military commanders and founder of the elite Radwan Force.
He was a man who had been on the US most-wanted list for decades and whom Israeli forces said “had the blood of many people on his hands”.
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1:06
Lebanon hit by more airstrikes
But women sobbed and the Hezbollah fighters acting as funeral bearers cried as they mourned the loss of a man many loyalists see as a hero.
They chanted for revenge and marched towards the burial ground known as the “Martyrs’ graveyard”, professing loyalty to the group which is a proscribed terror organisation in the US and UK.
At the same time further south in Lebanon, there were several funerals for civilians – mothers, children, whole families who were killed in the same airstrikes.
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1:43
Hezbollah fires rockets into Israel
They were in one of two residential apartments hit by the strikes.
Israeli forces say the attack was targeted at the commander and a group of his elite forces meeting deep underneath one of the high-rise blocks. But multiple civilians including children were also killed alongside 16 Hezbollah fighters.
The death toll at the time of writing is more than 40.
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The airstrikes in a densely populated part of Beirut followed two days of booby-trapped pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members exploding around the country.
The three attacks in a week seem to have drawn the country together in grief and defiance – but there is also a real sense of fear among millions of people across Lebanon.
Image: Hezbollah and Hamas are backed by Iran
However, even as global leaders urged restraint and politicians in the UK and America urged their citizens to leave the country while they still can, both Israel and Lebanon intensified their exchanges along the border.
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3:01
‘Israel is not interested to be at war with Lebanon’ – Herzog
Israeli warplanes launched hundreds of airstrikes over the weekend, pounding Lebanese villages in the south, while Hezbollah fired a salvo of long-range rockets reaching the deepest into Israeli territory in nearly a year.
Lebanese government ministers who are not Hezbollah have denounced Israel’s actions as “war crimes”.
Image: Thousands gathered in Beirut for the funeral
Its foreign minister said the attacks had resulted in a collective feeling that “no one is safe” and the UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, warned of the risk of “transforming Lebanon into another Gaza”.
But perhaps the most telling comments came from one of those who turned out at the commander’s funeral in Beirut.
A young 18-year-old university student called Hussein told us: “We are in a war… it is an open war… They [Israelis] bombed us three times this week… including the pager and walkie-talkie thing.”
Image: ‘My future is being broken in front of my eyes,’ says Hussein
He went on: “You can’t blame us for being negative… they are bombing us… If you were bombed in Britain or America, you would say that’s terrorism…We can also say this is terrorism… we are being killed, my future is being broken in front of my eyes… and I hate it.”
Alex Crawford reports from Beirut with camera Jake Britton, producer Chris Cunningham and Lebanon producers Jihad Jneid, Sami Zein and Hwaida Saad
In a stark and direct intervention, Martin Griffiths, the former UN humanitarian chief, has described the situation in Gaza as genocide.
The statement, made during an interview I conducted with Griffiths on The World, marks one of the most pointed accusations yet from a figure known to be deeply embedded in the world of international politics and diplomacy.
“I think now we’ve got to the point this is unequivocal. Of course it is genocide. Just as it is weaponising aid.
“We don’t need to look behind ourselves to see that’s the case. That should encourage us even more because we, of course, all doubted whether it would come to that level of definition.
“We all doubted whether famine is actually there. I think starvation is killing people. That’s bad enough. We don’t have to worry about famine, which is obviously there lurking in the shadows.
“Also, genocide… of course that’s what has happened. We only need to look at the statements made. Prime Minister Netanyahuhas the virtue of being very clear about his objectives.”
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3:14
Ex-Israeli aide dismisses genocide claims
His choice of words is extraordinary – not just for its gravity, but because it’s Griffiths who is saying it.
A veteran diplomat with decades of experience navigating complex international crises, Griffiths is known for his calm and thoughtful demeanour – not for inflammatory language.
For him to use the term “genocide” in a television interview signals a significant shift in how some within the international system are now interpreting events on the ground in Gaza – 20 months since Israel launched its war.
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Just weeks earlier, Tom Fletcher, another respected former British ambassador and current UN humanitarian chief, came close to using the phrase during a UN Security Council session.
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He said: “What more evidence do you need now? Will you act decisively to prevent genocide and to ensure respect for international humanitarian law? Or will you say instead: ‘we did all we could?'”
Whilst he stopped short, his tone showed a clear change in how leading international figures now view the direction of Israeli military operations in Gaza; staggering civilian deaths, and the statements made by Israeli officials prosecuting this war.
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Lawyers representing Israel against accusations brought by South Africa to the International Court of Justice last year – accusing its actions in Gaza of amounting to genocide – called the claims “unfounded”, “absurd” and amounting to “libel”.
They went on to say Israel respected international law and had a right to defend itself.
Now 41.2% of Europe finds itself in some form of drought, according to the latest update from the EU’s European Drought Observatory, which covers 11 to 20 May.
It is most acute in pockets of south-eastern Spain, Cyprus, Greece and Albania, where the strongest “alert” category has been issued, as well as parts of Poland and Ukraine.
But broad stretches of northern and eastern Europe through France, Germany, Poland and Ukraine also drying up, sowing concerns about crop yields.
On Thursday, the UK’s Environment Agency officially declared a drought in North West England after river and reservoir levels were licked away by a dry spring.
Image: More than 40% of Europe was in drought as of 11-20 May 2025. Pic: CEMS / EDO
Image: Heat was record high in March in Europe. The image on the right shows the south of the continent was much wetter than average and the north much drier. Source: Copernicus Climate Change Service
Greece tourism is ‘unsustainable’
In Greece, “overtourism” from millions flocking to its beaches adds further pressure to water supplies, said Nikitas Mylopoulos, professor of water resource management at Thessaly University.
“The tourist sector is unsustainable and there is no planning… leading to a tremendous rise in water demand in summer,” he told Sky News.
“The islands have an intense problem of drought and water scarcity.”
Islands like Santorini and Mykonos are now forced to ship in water from Athens or desalination plants to provide for showers and swimming pools. In the past, many residents could make do with local methods like rainwater harvesting.
But agriculture is a far bigger drain on the country’s water, with waste rife and policies lacking, said Prof Mylopoulos.
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1:55
‘Tropical nights’ soar in European hotspots
Wildfire season could be ‘particularly difficult’
This year’s hot and dry conditions are also fuelling the risk of yet another fierce wildfire season in Greece.
Last week civil protection minister Ioannis Kefalogiannis warned of a “particularly difficult” summer.
He said a record 18,000 firefighters have been deployed and the drone fleet almost doubled in a bid to combat fires being fuelled by a hotter climate.
Droughts and their causes are more complicated, but scientists at World Weather Attribution say global warming is exacerbating drought in some parts of the world, including around the Mediterranean.
Image: A drought was declared in northwest England on Thursday. Pic: Reuters
The International Hydropower Association said drought and intense rain in Europe are pushing power plants to “operate at the limits of their existing equipment”.
Extreme weather costs the EU about €28.3bn (£23.8bn) in lost crops and livestock per year, according to insurance firm Howden.
Hayley Fowler, professor of climate change impacts at Newcastle University, said: “With global warming, we expect more prolonged and intense droughts and heatwaves punctuated by more intense rainfall, possibly causing flash floods.
“In recent years, we have experienced more of these atmospheric blocks, causing record heat and persistent drought, as well as severe flooding in other locations in Europe.
“Recent months have been no different, with prolonged dry conditions and heatwaves in northern Europe and floods in southern Europe.”
At least 117 people have died and others are still missing after heavy flooding in Nigeria, an emergency official said.
Authorities initially said 21 people had died but this figure has today risen significantly.
Media reports quoting local government officials said a dam collapse has worsened the situation.
Ibrahim Hussaini, head of Niger State Emergency Management Agency, said some 3,000 houses were underwater in two communities.
Videos posted on social media show floodwater sweeping through neighbourhoods, with rooftops barely visible above the brown currents. One clip shows a tanker floating through a town.
Image: A tanker is swept away by floodwaters
The chairman of the Mokwa local government area suggested poor infrastructure has worsened the impact of the flooding.
Jibril Muregi has appealed to the government to start “long overdue” construction of waterways in the area under a climate resilience project.
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Image: Water appears to be flowing over a dam behind the town
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In a similar occurrence last September, torrential rains and a dam collapse in Nigeria’s northeastern Maiduguri caused severe flooding, leaving at least 30 people dead and displacing millions.
Nigeriais prone to flooding during the rainy season, which began in April – and flooding is becoming more common and extreme as the climate warms.
Hotter air is thirstier and can hold more moisture – about 7% more for every 1C warmer – meaning it unleashes heavier flooding when it rains.
Violent rain, which killed hundreds of people in Nigeria during 2022, was made at least 80 times more likely and 20% more intense by climate change, analysis by World Weather Attribution found.