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In Iran, which helped create Hezbollah in the early 1980s, senior figures mourned the death of a senior Revolutionary Guards member killed alongside Nasrallah, and Tehran called for a UN Security Council meeting on the Zionist entity’s actions. Nasrallah’s body was recovered intact from the site of Friday’s strike, a medical source and a security source told Reuters on Sunday. Hezbollah has not yet said when his funeral will be held. Nasrallah had not only made Hezbollah into a powerful domestic force in Lebanon during his 32 years as leader, but helped turn it into the linchpin of Iran’s network of allied groups in the Arab world.

Supporters of the group and other Lebanese who hailed its role fighting the Zionist entity, which occupied south Lebanon for years, mourned him on Sunday. “We lost the leader who gave us all the strength and faith that we, this small country that we love, could turn it into a paradise,” said Lebanese Christian woman Sophia Blanche Rouillard, carrying a black flag to work in Beirut. Lebanon’s top Christian cleric, Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai, said Nasrallah’s killing had “opened a wound in the heart of the Lebanese”. Rai has previously voiced criticism of the Hezbollah, accusing it of dragging Lebanon into regional conflicts.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said more than 1,000 Lebanese were killed and 6,000 wounded in the past two weeks. The government said a million people - a fifth of the population - had fled their homes. In Beirut, some displaced families spent the night on the benches at Zaitunay Bay, a string of restaurants and cafes on Beirut’s waterfront. On Sunday morning, families with nothing more than a duffle bag of clothes had rolled out mats to sleep on and made tea for themselves.

“You won’t be able to destroy us, whatever you do, however much you bomb, however much you displace people - we will stay here. We won’t leave. This is our country and we’re staying,” said Francoise Azori, a Beirut resident jogging through the area. The UN World Food Program began an emergency operation to provide food for those affected by the conflict.

On Sunday, the Zionist entity’s military said the air force had struck dozens of targets in Lebanon including launchers and weapons stores while its navy said it had intercepted eight projectiles coming from the direction of Lebanon and one from the Red Sea. It said dozens of Zionist aircraft including fighter jets had attacked power plants and a seaport at Rass Issa and Hodeida ports, accusing the Houthis of operating “under the direction and funding of Iran” and in cooperation with Iraqi militias. Zionist Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said: “Our message is clear - for us, no place is too far”. — Reuters