The body of the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was recovered from the rubble of an Israeli airstrike on Sunday, setting the stage for a dramatic funeral in the coming days.
Najib Mikati, the Lebanese prime minister, said the funeral would be marked by a national holiday, with three days of official mourning starting Monday despite growing fears of an Israeli ground invasion.
Nasralla’s body was removed intact from the blast scene on Saturday, his death caused by blunt trauma, said the Lebanese authorities.
Although a Shia Muslim, he was revered across the Palestinian world and was regarded by many as a pan-Arab leader.
His funeral – like his many televised speeches – is likely to garner considerable attention across the region and may be exploited by anti-Israeli forces as a rallying point.
It could also ignite brewing secular tensions in Lebanon where Shia, Sunni, Druze, Christian and other sects live in fine balance cheek by jowl.
From 1975 to 1990, Lebanon was mired in a vicious civil war fought on sectarian lines and some fear a repeat.
It was also reported on Sunday the bombs used to destroy the subterranean compound he was hiding in were US-made bunker-busting bombs, each weighing 2000 pounds, something that may also increase tensions in and the threat to US assets and citizens in the region.
Fighting continued on at least three fronts across the region on Sunday.
Israeli airstrikes continued across Lebanon on Sunday and the streets in much of the Lebanese capital remained deserted, with most shops and cafés closed.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah launched a barrage of at least 35 rockets at northern Israel early on Sunday evening.
According to the IDF, 10 rockets were launched toward Western Galilee with several impacts identified.
Another 25 rockets were launched toward the Haifa Bay area, setting off sirens in Acre but falling only in open areas.
Israel was reported to have sent special forces troops into Southern Lebanon in a “limited” ground incursion, while IDF tanks were pictured gathering in the border area, suggesting a larger offensive could be imminent.
Israel’s official war aims now include returning some 60,000 citizens in the north to their homes along the border, something most analysts believe will not be possible without troops on the ground in southern Lebanon.
An Israeli official told The Telegraph that the special forces troops were targeting Hezbollah military infrastructure, including weapons sites and command and control centres, in a bid to push them away from the border.
“They are targeting key sites which have been built across the border zone,” the source said.
An Israeli intelligence source told The Telegraph that the IDF was moving quickly in the wake of the assassination of Nasrallah in a bid to leverage its advantage.
“The question now is what the US will do, and I just hope the US doesn’t get involved and pull us back,” he said.
The source added: “Until now, the US has done nothing but interfere, both with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, holding us back in a bid to seek a diplomatic solution when we need to push forward militarily if we stand any chance of defeating Hezbollah and returning the citizens of the north.”
Sources in the Israeli defence establishment have become increasingly critical of the United States in recent weeks.
The United States initially went out of its way to deny involvement in the killing of Nasrallah, angering many Israelis.
It has since said his killing would bring a “measure of justice” to his victims, including many US citizens.
While Israel remains tight-lipped about its ground operations, Andrew Fox, a former British army officer, said Israel likely targeting known Hezbollah positions and attempting to clear the area of munitions and missile launch sites.
But the operation comes with considerable risks.
“The incursion is going to turn the neutral [Lebanese] population against them and cause a lot of damage and condemnation. But if you don’t hold ground, Hezbollah will just re-infiltrate,” Mr Fox told The Telegraph.
A senior IDF official told The Telegraph the operation was necessary because Hezbollah was flouting UN Security Council resolution 1701, which ended the last war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.
“The whole freedom of movement for Unifil (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) is gone. They are faced with roadblocks by Hezbollah, turned around, and they don’t challenge this,” the source said, referring to the United Nations peacekeeping mission there.
Resolution 1701 states that there should be no armed non-state groups between the UN-delineated line of withdrawal between Lebanon and Israel and the Litani River, which flows between three and 18 miles north of the Israeli border.
The resolution also called for Hezbollah and other armed in the area, such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, to disarm.
Israel accuses Hezbollah of effectively taking over multiple towns and villages in the demilitarised since 2006 and using the residents as human shields for its large weapon stockpiles.
A tit-for-tat war that broke out when Hezbollah rocketed Israel on October 8 last year has seen the worst violence on the border since the 2006 war.
Around 200,000 people have been displaced on both sides of the border, with hundreds of thousands more fleeing southern Lebanon in the wake of Israel’s accelerated campaign.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, warned Iran and its proxies on Saturday that Israel would respond forcibly to attacks on its territory.
“If someone rises up to kill you, kill him first”, he said, before adding: “There is no place in Iran or the Middle East that the long arm of Israel cannot reach”.
