launched rockets and drones at the Israeli city of Haifa to avenge the killing of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Lebanon's health ministry said 31 people were killed by Israeli strikes in Beirut's southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence, and the country's south. There were no reports of casualties in Israel from Hezbollah's fire, which the group said was retaliation for Khamenei's "pure blood" and Israeli strikes in Lebanon since a ceasefire ended a war between them 15 months ago. The Israeli defence minister vowed Hezbollah would pay a "heavy price".

On Monday, Israel Katz said he had ordered the Israeli military to "act forcefully" against the group and that its leader Naim Qassem was now a "marked target for assassination". Lebanese President Joseph Aoun denounced the Israeli strikes while also warning against turning Lebanon into a battleground for conflicts "that do not concern us". Later, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam announced that his government was immediately banning Hezbollah's military activities in Lebanon in response to the rocket fire.

It had been widely expected that Hezbollah, which has close financial and ideological ties to Iran, would join the conflict between Iran, Israel and the US. The conflict has spread quickly across the Middle East since the joint US-Israeli attack on Iran's leadership and armed forces on Saturday, with Iran responding by launching missiles and drones towards Israel and Gulf Arab states hosting US military bases.

On Sunday, Hezbollah's leader denounced Khamenei's assassination as "the height of crime". Qasem also declared that his group would "undertake our duty of confronting the aggression" by Israel and the US and not leave "the field of honour and resistance". At around 01:00 local time on Monday (23:00 GMT on Sunday), sirens sounded in several areas of northern Israel and explosions were heard.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said one projectile that crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory was intercepted, and that several others fell in open areas. No injuries or damage were reported, it added. Hezbollah's military wing later announced that it had launched "a barrage of rockets and a swarm of drones" at a missile defence site south of Haifa in retaliation for Khamenei's killing, as well as "repeated Israeli aggressions" since the November 2024 ceasefire ended a year-long conflict between them. Israeli forces responded with a powerful air assault in Beirut's southern suburbs - known as Dahieh - and southern Lebanon at around 03:00. The IDF said the strikes targeted senior Hezbollah operatives, command centres, weapons stores, and "terrorist infrastructure". (BBC)