After Houthis claim they fired at airport as he landed, PM says assassination will shift regional balance of power; IDF hits Hezbollah sites as Gallant meets on expanding offensive Israel’s assassination of Hezbollah terror chief Hassan Nasrallah in a Friday sortie will reshape the Middle East’s power structures, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday, warning Iran that Israel’s military can strike wherever in the region it needs — “and today you know how true that is.”

Netanyahu’s first public comments since a massive Israeli airstrike killed Hezbollah’s leader in his southern Beirut headquarters on Friday came as fighter jets continued to pound Hezbollah targets, and as the IDF announced a blockade aimed at stymying Iranian weapons shipments into Lebanon. The military also indicated a possible broadening of strikes after nearly a week of intensified fighting.

Despite suffering heavy losses from days of intense airstrikes on its weapons stores and leadership, Hezbollah continued to flex its extensive rocket arsenal throughout Saturday, firing at least 100 rockets into Israel, including what appeared to be the group’s first attack targeting Jerusalem.

The stunning assassination of the longtime foe at the head of what was considered Iran’s most powerful proxy culminated a series of Israeli strikes that have taken out much of the group’s leadership, and ushered in deep uncertainty over whether the killing could serve as a prelude to a wider war.

Speaking from Jerusalem after returning from a trip to the UN General Assembly in New York, Netanyahu said Israel’s targeting of Nasrallah was necessary to achieve Israel’s war aims, allowing residents of northern Israel displaced by nearly a year of Hezbollah rocket fire to return home. “Nasrallah wasn’t just another terrorist. He was the terrorist,” he said. “Eliminating Nasrallah was an essential condition for achieving the goals that we have set out — returning the residents of the north safely to their homes and changing the balance of power in the region for years.” “As long as Nasrallah was alive, he would have quickly rehabilitated Hezbollah’s capabilities,” Netanyahu added.

With Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei moving to a secure location, the Israeli premier also appeared to issue a direct challenge to Tehran, which had supplied Hezbollah with funds, weapons and know-how, building it into a formidable branch of the Islamic Republic on Israel’s northern border. “Those who strike at us, we will strike at them,” Netanyahu said. “There is nowhere in Iran or the Middle East beyond the reach of the long arm of Israel, and today you know how true that is.” Nasrallah, long seen as a top assassination target of Israel, had spent over a decade avoiding public appearances to remain out of harm’s way, but on Friday evening, Israeli warplanes carried out a large strike on the Hezbollah stronghold of Dahiyeh south of Beirut, killing Nasrallah, along with several other top commanders, in the group’s subterranean headquarters.

On Sunday, the IDF released images and a video showing F-15i fighter jets of the Israeli Air Force’s 69th Squadron taking off from Hatzerim Airbase to carry out the assassination of Nasrallah.

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