LIVE UPDATES: Israeli-Lebanese Tensions Soar as Hezbollah Leader Nasrallah Killed in IDF Bombing

Israeli warplanes have struck dozens of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon in the last few hours and hundreds of targets across Lebanon in the last 24 hours, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Sunday.

US broadcaster ABC News claimed citing US officials that small-scale Israeli ground operations in Lebanon might have already begun.

Small-scale operations or "border movements" in Lebanon with the aim of destroying Lebanese movement Hezbollah's positions right on the border have already begun or will begin soon, the channel said.

The officials told the channel that, apparently, Israel has not yet made a final decision on the ground operation, but is already prepared for it.

Israeli aircraft dropped more than 80 bombs in minutes in Lebanon to kill the leader of Lebanese movement Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, the New York Times reported citing two senior Israeli military officials.

In a video posted by the Israeli army showing aircraft taking off to strike Lebanon on the day of Nasrallah's assassination, the newspaper counted at least fifteen 2,000-pound bunker buster bombs BLU-109.

The United States sees signs of Israel preparing for a military invasion of Lebanon, CNN reported citing a high-ranking source in the administration of US President Joe Biden and another US official, although the possible timing of such an operation is not indicated.

The US assessment is based on the mobilization of Israeli soldiers and the clearing of territories as part of possible preparations for the launch of a ground offensive, the channel noted.

ABC News previously reported that Israel was preparing for a limited ground operation in Lebanon, citing an unnamed US administration official.

Hashem Safieddine, the cousin of Lebanese movement Hezbollah's deceased leader Hassan Nasrallah, may become his successor, the New York Times reported, citing Israeli officials.

Earlier, Hezbollah confirmed Nasrallah's death as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the southern suburb of Beirut.

Three Israeli officials told the publication that Safieddine was a key player in the movement's political and social work. He was one of the few remaining senior Hezbollah leaders not present at the scene of the attack.

Safieddine, long seen as a potential successor to Nasrallah, could soon be announced as the movement's new secretary-general, the publication said.

Earlier, CNN reported, citing current and former US officials, that Nasrallah's death had sharply increased fears of a full-scale war in the Middle East.

Tehran calls on the UN Security Council to convene an emergency meeting on the situation in Lebanon as a result from the recent Israeli actions, the Iranian Mission to the UN said in a statement.

Shiite movement Ansar Allah (the Houthis), which rules northern Yemen, said it had attacked Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv with a Palestine-2 missile as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was returning to Israel from the United States.

Earlier on Saturday, speaking on the occasion of Israel's assassination of Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, the Ansar Allah leader said that the hopes of the Jews had been dashed after the assassination of Palestinian martyr Ismail Haniyeh and their hopes would be dashed after the death of Nasrallah as well. The support fronts "will continue and grow despite the efforts of the Israeli enemy, and we will not let down the two dear peoples of Lebanon and Palestine."

Iraqi armed Shiite groups within the Iraqi Islamic Resistance claimed on Saturday a drone attack on a target in Eilat in southern Israel.

More than 30 people were killed and 195 injured as a result of Israeli strikes on Lebanon, the emergency center under the Lebanese Health Ministry said.

Kuwait's foreign ministry has urged its nationals to depart from Lebanon against the backdrop of the security situation deterioration, media reported on Saturday, citing the foreign department.

The ministry also published the number of an emergency phone line of the Kuwaiti Embassy in Beirut, the Kuwait News Agency reported.

Earlier in the day, Lebanese movement Hezbollah confirmed that its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut on Friday.

Israel began a massive bombing campaign, codenamed Northern Arrows, in southern and eastern parts of Lebanon on Monday. The Lebanese Health Ministry put the death toll at over 1,500. Hezbollah retaliated by firing dozens of rockets toward northern Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in his first public remarks since the elimination of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, said Saturday that his removal was a necessary condition for achieving Israel's current goals of returning northern residents to their homes and changing the balance of power in the region.

The prime minister added that the elimination of the Hezbollah leader would help efforts to free hostages in the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu said he had concluded earlier in the week that Israeli strikes against the movement's targets in Lebanon in those days were insufficient.

The prime minister also called Nasrallah "terrorist number one" and "the main engine of Iran's axis of evil," adding that Hezbollah had hatched plans to destroy Israel.

Israel is gearing up for a limited ground incursion into Lebanon, following the recent elimination of around 30 top Hezbollah leaders, ABC News reports citing a senior US official.

US President Joe Biden on Saturday called the killing of Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah by Israel a "measure of justice," claiming the movement's leader was responsible for killing hundreds of Americans.

"Hassan Nasrallah and the terrorist group he led, Hezbollah, were responsible for killing hundreds of Americans over a four-decade reign of terror. His death from an Israeli airstrike is a measure of justice for his many victims, including thousands of Americans, Israelis, and Lebanese civilians," Biden said in a statement released by the White House.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Saturday the country's air force had eliminated Hassan Khalil Yassin, a senior intelligence official of the Hezbollah movement, in a strike in the Dahieh area of Beirut.