Read Aloud the Text Content

This audio was created by Woord's Text to Speech service by content creators from all around the world.

Text Content or SSML code:

Last night, Israel launched several massive airstrikes on Beirut, killing Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an underground bunker. Nasrallah, who had been in hiding for decades, built Hezbollah into the most powerful paramilitary force in the world, a power player in Lebanese politics, and the most potent force in Iran’s so-called “Axis of Resistance” against Israel Israel wants to show Hezbollah that it will no longer follow the tit-for-tat approach where both sides merely lob missiles at each other daily. It wants to return its 60,000 residents who’ve been internally displaced from its northern border ever since Hezbollah began targeting Israel following Hamas’s attack on October 7th. Since a Hezbollah missile killed 12 Israeli Druze children playing on a soccer field in the Golan Heights on July 27th, Israel has engaged in increasingly escalatory actions to show Hezbollah that it is no longer content with the status quo. It has now eliminated many Hezbollah leaders in airstrikes and remotely exploded the pagers of Hezbollah members in a covert operation, killing 42 and injuring thousands. Right after targeting Nasrallah, Israel launched more airstrikes against Hezbollah rocket launchers in order to deter any large response. However, even in it’s weakened state, Hezbollah had managed to launch some rockets at Israel’s north in the aftermath of these strikes. The Iran-aligned Houthis also fired a missile from Yemen It remains to be seen what comes next. Israel is intent on ensuring that Hezbollah can not invade its territory in the same way that Hamas did nearly a year ago from Gaza. Hezbollah’s forces are currently entrenched in southern Lebanon, in violation of UN Resolution 1701, which limited their forces to north of the Litani River. Israel waits to see whether Hezbollah backs down and is willing to engage in diplomacy. Meanwhile, Iran’s crown jewel has been hit, and Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamaini has called upon Muslims across the world to stand by and confront Israel’s wicked regime. It remains in contact with Hezbollah’s surviving leaders about the most effective way to respond. With Israel threatening a potential ground invasion of southern Lebanon unless Hezbollah backs down, the next several days may prove vital in determining the future of the region.