Israeli military says it has killed Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem

Israel said on Thursday it had killed Naim Qassem, ⁠the leader of the ⁠Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, in a ⁠strike on Beirut overnight.His death, if confirmed by Hezbollah, deals another big blow to the armed group and to Tehran as it is one of Iran’s main allies in the Middle East.By attacking ‌Israel on March 2, Hezbollah entered the war in the region on Iran’s side, two days after the United States and Israel began air strikes against Iran.Hezbollah attacked Israel after Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed on the first day of the war. Israel said it would respond forcefully and ⁠has since carried out air strikes that have killed more than a thousand people.Israel had ‌already weakened the group’s military capabilities and hammered it with a series of assassinations since the Gaza war began on October 7, ‌2023.Despite a US-backed ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon in 2024 after ⁠more than a ⁠year of fighting, Israel has carried out regular strikes against what it has identified as Hezbollah targets in ‌Lebanon. It accused the group of seeking to rearm.