More Americans are ending up in Russian jails. Prospects for their release are unclear

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — One was a journalist on a reporting trip. Another was attending a wedding. Yet another was a dual national returning to visit family.

All are U.S. citizens now behind bars in Russia on various charges.

Arrests of Americans in Russia are increasingly common with relations sinking to Cold War lows. Washington accuses Moscow of using U.S. citizens as bargaining chips, but Russia insists they all broke the law.

While high-profile prisoner exchanges have occurred, the prospects of swaps are unclear.

“It seems that since Moscow itself has cut off most of the communication channels and does not know how to restore them properly without losing face, they are trying to use the hostages. … At least that’s what it looks like,” said Boris Bondarev, a former Russian diplomat who quit after Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022.

EVAN GERSHKOVICH — The 32-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter faces trial Wednesday on espionage charges that he, his employer and the U.S. government deny. He was detained in March 2023 while reporting in the city of Yekaterinburg and accused of spying. Russia alleges Gershkovich was “gathering secret information” at the CIA's behest about a facility that produces and repairs military equipment. It provided no evidence to support the accusations.

PAUL WHELAN — The 54-year-old corporate security executive from Michigan was arrested in 2018 in Moscow where he was attending a friend's wedding, convicted two years later of espionage, and sentenced to 16 years in prison. He maintains his innocence, saying the charges were fabricated.

TRAVIS LEAKE — The musician was arrested in 2023 on drug charges. An Instagram page describes him as the singer for the band Lovi Noch (Seize the Night). Court officials have said he is a former paratrooper.

MARC FOGEL — The Moscow teacher was sentenced to 14 years in prison, also on drug charges. The Interfax news agency said Fogel taught at the Anglo-American School in Moscow and had worked at the U.S. Embassy. Interfax cited court officials as saying Fogel has admitted guilt.

GORDON BLACK — The 34-year-old staff sergeant stationed at Fort Cavazos, Texas, was convicted June 19 in Vladivostok of stealing and making threats against his girlfriend, and was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison. He had flown to Russia from his U.S. military post in South Korea without authorization and was arrested in May after she accused him of stealing from her, according to U.S. and Russian authorities.

ROBERT WOODLAND — Woodland, a dual national, is on trial in Moscow on drug- trafficking charges. Russian media reported his name matches a U.S. citizen interviewed in 2020 who said he was born in the Perm region in 1991 and adopted by an American couple at age 2. He said he traveled to Russia to find his mother and eventually met her on a TV show. Woodland was charged with trafficking drugs as part of an organized group — punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

ALSU KURMASHEVA — Kurmasheva, a dual U.S.-Russian national, was arrested in 2023 in her hometown of Kazan. The Prague-based editor for the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Tatar-Bashkir service was visiting her ailing mother. She faces multiple charges, including not self-reporting as a “foreign agent” and spreading false information about the Russian military.

KSENIA KHAVANA — Khavana, 33, was arrested in Yekaterinburg in February on treason charges, accused of collecting money for Ukraine's military. Independent Russian news outlet Mediazona identified her by her maiden name of Karelina, and said she had U.S. citizenship after marrying an American. She returned to Russia from Los Angeles to visit family. The rights group Pervy Otdel said the charges stem from a $51 donation to a U.S. charity that helps Ukraine.

DAVID BARNES — An engineer from Texas, Barnes was arrested while visiting his sons in Russia, where their mother had taken them. His supporters say the woman made baseless claims of sexual abuse that already had been discredited by Texas investigators but he was convicted in Russia anyway and sentenced to prison.

Gershkovich and Whelan have gotten the most attention, with the State Department designating both as wrongfully detained. The designation is applied to only a small subset of Americans jailed by foreign countries.

Those cases go to a special State Department envoy for hostage affairs, who tries to negotiate their release. They must meet certain criteria, including a determination the arrest came solely because the person is a U.S. national or part of an effort to influence U.S. policy or extract concessions from the government.

The U.S. successfully negotiated swaps in 2022 for WNBA star Brittney Griner and Marine veteran Trevor Reed — both designated as wrongfully detained. Moscow got arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was serving a 25-year sentence, and pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, serving 20 years for cocaine trafficking.

It’s unclear how many Americans are jailed in Russia or if negotiations are in the works for them.

Kurmasheva’s husband, Pavel Butorin, told The Associated Press after her arrest he hoped the U.S. government would use “every avenue and every means available to it” to win her release, including designating her as wrongfully detained.

In December, the State Department said it had made a significant offer for Gershkovich and Whelan but Russia rejected it.

Officials did not give details, although Russia has been said to be seeking Vadim Krasikov, serving a life sentence in Germany in 2021 for the killing of Zelimkhan “Tornike” Khangoshvili, a Georgian citizen of Chechen descent who had fought Russian troops in Chechnya and later claimed asylum in Germany.

President Vladimir Putin, asked about releasing Gershkovich, appeared to refer to Krasikov by pointing to a man imprisoned by a U.S. ally for “liquidating a bandit” who had allegedly killed Russian soldiers in Chechnya.

Beyond that, Russia has stayed silent. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says such swaps “must be carried out in absolute silence.”

Historically, when relations are better, "the exchanges seem to be smoother,” said Nina Khrushcheva, a professor of international affairs at the New School in New York and the great-granddaughter of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.

She cited prisoner swaps between the USSR and Chile in the 1970s, as well as those with the U.S. and Germany shortly after Mikhail Gorbachev took office in the 1980s involving dissidents Vladimir Bukovsky and Natan Sharansky.

Ultimately, the decision “is only in Putin’s hands,” Khrushcheva said.

In Gershkovich's case, an exchange might also involve concessions, possibly related to Ukraine, said Sam Greene of the Center for European Policy Analysis.

“Even if the immediate reason to get people around the (negotiating) table is Evan and a prisoner exchange, that allows them to get right up to the line and to say: ‘OK, we’ve got 98% of the deal, but if you really want to get this done, there’s this other thing we’d really like to talk about,’" like sanctions or another Ukraine-related issue, he said.

“The Kremlin is perfectly happy to hold onto Evan as long as it possibly can. And so its incentive is to get as much for him as possible,” Greene said.

Tucker reported from Washington.

FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and U.S President Joe Biden shake hands in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 16, 2021. Arrests of Americans in Russia have become increasingly common as relations between Moscow and Washington sink to Cold War lows. Some have been exchanged for Russians held in the U.S., while for others, the prospects of being released in a swap are less clear. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool, File)

FILE – Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was exchanged for WNBA star Brittney Griner, speaks to the media at an opening for an exhibition of his artwork at the Mosfilm studio in Moscow, Russia, on March 7, 2023. The U.S. successfully negotiated high-profile swaps in 2022 for Griner and Marine veteran Trevor Reed — both designated as wrongfully detained. Moscow Bout, who was serving a 25-year sentence, and pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, serving 20 years for cocaine trafficking. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

FILE - WNBA star Brittney Griner is escorted from court after a hearing in Khimki, just outside Moscow, Russia, on Aug. 4, 2022. The U.S. successfully negotiated a swap for Griner and Marine veteran Trevor Reed — both designated as wrongfully detained. Moscow got arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was serving a 25-year sentence, and pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, serving 20 years for cocaine trafficking. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and U.S President Joe Biden shake hands at a meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 16, 2021. Arrests of Americans in Russia have become increasingly common as relations between Moscow and Washington sink to Cold War lows. Some have been exchanged for Russians held in the U.S., while for others, the prospects of being released in a swap are less clear. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool, File)

FILE - Ksenia Karelina, also known as Khavana sits in a defendants’ cage in a court in Yekaterinburg, Russia, on June 20, 2024. Khavana, 33, was arrested in February on treason charges, accused of collecting money for Ukraine's military. Independent Russian news outlet Mediazona identified her as Ksenia Karelina, her maiden name, and said she had U.S. citizenship after marrying an American. She had returned to Russia from Los Angeles to visit family. The rights group Pervy Otdel said the charges stem from a $51 donation to a U.S. charity that helps Ukraine. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Ksenia Khavana sits in a defendants’ cage in a court in Yekaterinburg, Russia, on June 20, 2024. Khavana, 33, was arrested in February on treason charges, accused of collecting money for Ukraine's military. Independent Russian news outlet Mediazona identified her as Ksenia Karelina, her maiden name, and said she had U.S. citizenship after marrying an American. She had returned to Russia from Los Angeles to visit family. The rights group Pervy Otdel said the charges stem from a $51 donation to a U.S. charity that helps Ukraine. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor for the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Tatar-Bashkir service, attends a court hearing in Kazan, Russia on May 31, 2024. Kurmasheva, a dual U.S.-Russian national, was arrested in October 2023 in her hometown of Kazan. The Prague-based editor was visiting her ailing mother. She faces multiple charges, including not self-reporting as a "foreign agent" and spreading false information about the Russian military. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor for the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Tatar-Bashkir service, listens to her lawyer during a court hearing in Kazan, Russia, on May 31, 2024. Kurmasheva, a dual U.S.-Russian national, was arrested in October 2023 in her hometown of Kazan. The Prague-based editor was visiting her ailing mother. She faces multiple charges, including not self-reporting as a "foreign agent" and spreading false information about the Russian military. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - U.S. citizen Robert Woodland Romanov sits in a defendants’ cage before a court session on drug-related charges in Moscow, Russia, on May 30, 2024. Russian media reported his name matches that of a U.S. citizen interviewed by the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper in 2020 in which he said he was born in the Perm region in the Ural Mountains in 1991 and adopted by an American couple when he was 2. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

FILE - U.S. citizen Robert Woodland Romanov, center, is escorted into a defendants’ cage prior to a hearing on drug-related charges in Moscow, Russia, on April 25, 2024. Russian media reported his name matches that of a U.S. citizen interviewed by the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper in 2020 in which he said he was born in the Perm region in the Ural Mountains in 1991 and adopted by an American couple when he was 2. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

FILE - U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Gordon Black sits in a defendants’ cage in courtroom in Vladivostok, Russia,on June 6, 2024. The 34-year-old, who is stationed at Fort Cavazos, Texas, was convicted June 19 of stealing and making threats against his girlfriend and sentenced to three years and nine months in prison. He had flown to Russia from his U.S. military post in South Korea to see her and was arrested in May after she accused him of stealing from her, according to U.S. and Russian authorities. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Gordon Black is escorted into a courtroom in Vladivostok, Russia, Thursday, June 6, 2024. The 34-year-old, who is stationed at Fort Cavazos, Texas, was convicted June 19 of stealing and making threats against his girlfriend and sentenced to three years and nine months in prison. He had flown to Russia from his U.S. military post in South Korea her and was arrested in May after she accused him of stealing from her, according to U.S. and Russian officials. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine who was arrested for alleged spying, listens to the verdict in a courtroom in Moscow, Russia, on June 15, 2020. The 54-year-old corporate security executive from Michigan was arrested in 2018 in Moscow where he was attending a friend's wedding, convicted two years later of espionage, and sentenced to 16 years in prison. He maintains his innocence, saying the charges were fabricated. (Sofia Sandurskaya, Moscow News Agency photo via AP, File)

FILE - Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine who was arrested on espionage charges, listens to the verdict in court in Moscow, Russia, on June 15, 2020. The 54-year-old corporate security executive from Michigan was arrested in 2018 in Moscow where he was attending a friend's wedding, convicted two years later of espionage, and sentenced to 16 years in prison. He maintains his innocence, saying the charges were fabricated. (Sofia Sandurskaya, Moscow News Agency photo via AP, File)

FILE Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich stands in a defendants’ cage in a courtroom in Moscow, Russia, on April 23, 2024. The 32-year-old journalist faces trial Wednesday, June 26, on espionage charges that he, his employer and the U.S. government deny. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

FILE - Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is escorted from court in Moscow, Russia, on Jan. 26, 2024. The 32-year-old journalist faces trial Wednesday, June 26, on espionage charges that he, his employer and the U.S. government deny. He was detained in March 2023 while reporting in the city of Yekaterinburg and accused of spying. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

FILE - Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, right, is escorted from court in Moscow, Russia, on Jan. 26, 2024. The 32-year-old journalist faces trial Wednesday, June 26, on espionage charges that he, his employer and the U.S. government deny. He was detained in March 2023 while reporting in the city of Yekaterinburg and accused of spying. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

This photo combination shows some of the U.S. citizens who are in Russian custody. Clockwise from top left are Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, corporate security executive Paul Whelan, Army Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, a dual U.S.-Russian national Robert Woodland Romanov, Prague-based editor for the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Tatar-Bashkir service Alsu Kurmasheva, and a dual U.S.-Russian national Ksenia Karelina also known as Khavana. (AP Photo)

Smoke rose from Beirut’s southern suburbs Saturday after the area was pummeled by heavy airstrikes that Israel said killed multiple Hezbollah commanders, including leader Hassan Nasrallah.

The Lebanese militant group confirmed the death of its longtime leader, whose killing could dramatically reshape conflicts across the Middle East.

Attacks on Hezbollah targets by fighter jets continued Saturday after the army said it told residents to evacuate three buildings it was targeting, as Israel braced for Hezbollah's response.

Hours before the strikes, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the United Nations, vowing that Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah would continue — further dimming hopes for an internationally backed cease-fire. Netanyahu abruptly cut his United States visit short and returned to Israel.

More than 1,000 people have been killed in Lebanon since the conflict escalated less than two weeks ago, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

The United Nations says the number of those displaced by the conflict from southern Lebanon has more than doubled and now stands at more than 211,000. At least 20 primary healthcare centers have shut down in hard-hit areas of Lebanon, the U.N. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.

Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel in support of Hamas after it stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, sparking the Israel-Hamas war. Top Israeli officials have threatened to repeat the destruction of Gaza in Lebanon if the Hezbollah fire continues, raising fears of further displacement.

Here’s the latest:

BAGHDAD — Hundreds of protesters tried to cross Saturday into the fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, where the U.S. Embassy is based.

Supporters of Iran-allied Shiite factions gathered near the entrance to the zone at the suspension bridge over the Tigris River. They attempted to breach the Green Zone and storm the embassy in anger over the assassination of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Iran-backed Iraqi militias have periodically launched drone attacks on bases housing U.S. troops in protest over Washington’s support for Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Iraqi authorities closed one of the fortified gates of the Green Zone to regular traffic, restricting access to holders of Green Zone ID badges.

A day earlier, the U.S. announced an agreement with the Iraqi government to wrap up the military mission in Iraq of an American-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group by next year. U.S. troops will depart some bases that they have occupied during a two-decade-long military presence in the country.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, twice on Friday about the situation in Lebanon, the Pentagon said Saturday.

Austin said Israel has the right to defend itself against Iranian-backed groups, according to a statement from Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary.

“Secretary Austin stressed that the United States is determined to prevent Iran and Iranian-backed partners and proxies from exploiting the situation or expanding the conflict,” Ryder said.

The statement said Austin made it clear that the U.S. was prepared to protect American forces in the region and was committed to defending Israel.

TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that assassinating Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah became an “essential condition” for Israel to achieve its war goals.

In his first public remarks since the killing, Netanyahu said the killings of top Hezbollah commanders was not enough and he decided Nasrallah also needed to be killed.

He blamed Nasrallah for being “the architect” of a plan to “annihilate” Israel.

WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday called Hassan Nasrallah “a terrorist with American blood on his hands,” while urging a diplomatic solution to stem the escalating tensions in the Middle East.

The White House sees the death of Nasrallah as a huge blow to the militant group. At the same time, the administration has sought to tread carefully as it has tried to contain Israel ’s war with Hamas, which, like Hezbollah, is backed by Iran.

“President Biden and I do not want to see conflict in the Middle East escalate into a broader regional war,” Harris said in a statement reacting to confirmation of Nasrallah’s killing in an Israeli airstrike. She added: “Diplomacy remains the best path forward to protect civilians and achieve lasting stability in the region.”

The confirmation of Nasrallah’s death comes during a week that began with Biden’s top national security aides working on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly to build support for a 21-day Israel-Hezbollah cease-fire that they hoped might also breathe new life into stalled efforts to secure a truce in Gaza.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a defiant speech on Friday to the U.N., vowing to keep up operations against Hezbollah until tens of thousands of Israeli citizens displaced by rocket attacks can return home. Shortly after, Israel carried out the strike killing Nasrallah.

WASHINGTON — The State Department on Saturday ordered the departure of the families of U.S. diplomats who are not employed by the embassy in Beirut. It also authorized the departure of those who are, as well as nonessential employees because of “the volatile and unpredictable security situation” in Lebanon’s capital.

The move comes after an Israeli strike on Friday killed the leader of the Hezbollah militant group, intensifying the fighting along another front of war, this time between Israel and Hezbollah.

The State Department has previously advised American citizens to consider leaving Lebanon and reiterated its warning against all travel to the country.

“Due to the increased volatility following airstrikes within Beirut and the volatile and unpredictable security situation throughout Lebanon, the U.S. Embassy urges U.S. citizens to depart Lebanon while commercial options still remain available,” the department said in a statement Saturday.

The State Department routinely orders or authorizes the departure of nonessential embassy staffers and the families of diplomats when security conditions in the country where they are posted deteriorate.

An ordered departure is not technically an evacuation but does require those affected to leave. An authorized departure allows those affected to leave the country voluntarily at government expense.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Saturday called the Israeli strike that killed Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah a “measure of justice” for his four-decade reign of terror.

The comments came after Lebanon’s Hezbollah group confirmed earlier Saturday that Nasrallah, one of the group’s founders, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut the previous day.

Biden noted that the operation to take out Nasrallah took place in the broader context of the conflict that began with Hamas’ massacre of Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023.

“Nasrallah, the next day, made the fateful decision to join hands with Hamas and open what he called a ‘northern front’ against Israel,” Biden said in a statement.

He also noted that Hezbollah under Nasrallah’s watch has been responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans.

TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel’s military says it killed a Hezbollah intelligence official Saturday in a strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed.

The Israeli Defense Forces said it “eliminated” Hassan Khalil Yassin in a strike in the Dahieh area of Beirut. The Israeli military said Yassin was involved in planning attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians, including some planned to be carried out “in the coming days.”

UNITED NATIONS — The head of the United Nations is urging all sides to “step back from the brink” following the dramatic escalation of events in Beirut in the last 24 hours, his spokesman said.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres believes “this cycle of violence must stop now,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Saturday. “The people of Lebanon, the people of Israel, as well as the wider region, cannot afford an all-out war.”

Guterres urged the combatant parties to recommit to the full implementation of the 2006 U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the Israel-Hezbollah war in Lebanon “and immediately return to a cessation of hostilities,” Dujarric said.

TEL AVIV, Israel — Air raid sirens sounded across central Israel, including at the Tel Aviv international airport, shortly after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu landed from a trip to the U.S.

The Israeli military said a missile launched from Yemen was intercepted shortly after the sirens were heard. There were no reports of injuries.

Later on Saturday, Yemen’s Houthi rebels said they targeted the airport during Netanyahu’s arrival with a ballistic missile.

Netanyahu cut short his trip to the U.S. to deal with the growing crisis in Israel’s battle against Hezbollah militants.

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian has offered condolences over the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and accused the United States of supporting his killing in Israeli airstrikes.

“The world community will not forget that the order of the terrorist strike was issued from New York and the Americans cannot absolve themselves from complicity with the Zionists,” Pezeshkian was quoted as saying in a statement read on Iranian state television.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned what he called Israel’s “savage attacks” that have killed hundreds of Lebanese people.

In a post on X, Erdogan urged Muslim countries to “exhibit a more determined stance against these attacks.”

“With the United Nations Security Council first and foremost, we are calling to action all institutions working toward global peace, stability and security, as well as all human rights organizations,” he wrote.

The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen mourned Nasrallah’s death and said the killing won’t deter Hezbollah or other Iranian-backed groups fighting against “the Israeli enemy.”

The Houthis have launched drone and missile attacks on shipping routes and on Israel as part of their support for Palestinian militant groups.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran says a prominent general in its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard died in an airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut.

The state-run IRNA news agency says Abbas Nilforushan, 58, was killed Friday in Lebanon.

Nilforushan was sanctioned in 2022 by the U.S. government, which identified him as deputy commander for operations in the guard. It said he had been a leader in suppressing protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, who died after being arrested for allegedly not wearing her headscarf properly.

Nilforushan also served in Syria, backing President Bashar Assad in the civil war that grew out of the 2011 Arab Spring.

In 2020, Iranian state television called him a “comrade” of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of the expeditionary Quds Force, who was killed in a 2020 U.S. drone attack in Baghdad.

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s health minister says 1,030 people have been killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon in less than two weeks, more than in the previous 11 months.

Health Minister Firass Abiad says the toll includes 156 women and 87 children.

A total of 1,640 people in Lebanon have died since Hezbollah began firing rockets over the border into Israel in support of its ally, Hamas, the day after Hamas’ deadly raid into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

The health ministry counted 11 people killed and 108 wounded on Friday, but said the true toll may be higher.

TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel’s military updated guidelines for residents on Saturday that prohibit large gatherings, demonstrations, and sports events in central Israel due to concerns of a counterattack after Israel killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

School remains canceled in northern Israel for some 600,000 students.

Israeli army spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Israel expects “challenging days ahead” as the country braces for a response. Hagari said at a media briefing that Nasrallah “posed a threat to Israeli citizens for decades, and his elimination makes the world a safer place.”

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Friday’s strike in southern Beirut that killed Nasrallah was one of “the most important targeted strikes since the founding of the state of Israel.”

BAABDA, Lebanon — Shots rang out in Hezbollah’s stronghold of southern Beirut and other areas of Lebanon as people fired in the air to mourn the death of the only leader many Lebanese have known for the powerful militant group.

Angry supporters shouted, decrying his death. One woman holding her baby in the western city of Baabda, shouted: “Wish it was our kids, not you, Sayyid,” using an honorific title for Nasrallah.

The Gaza-based Palestinian militant group Hamas issued condolences to its ally, Hezbollah. It said Nasrallah’s death would not stop the two Iran-backed militant groups’ fight against Israel.

Hamas said in a statement that “assassinations will only increase the resistance in Lebanon and Palestine in determination and resolve.”

BEIRUT — Hezbollah has confirmed the death of its leader Hassan Nasrallah and vowed to continue its “holy war” against Israel and "in support of Palestine.”

The group said in a statement that Nasrallah “has joined his fellow martyrs.”

Nasrallah led the militant group for more than three decades. His death could dramatically reshape conflicts across the Middle East.

TEL AVIV, Israel – Israel’s military says it is continuing to strike sites belonging to Hezbollah in Lebanon, some under residential buildings, after the massive attack that targeted the group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah.

The Israeli army says it hit more than 140 targets since Friday night, including a storage site for anti-ship missiles beneath civilian apartment buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Israeli Air Force fighter jets struck the weapons stores under six different buildings as, working to “degrade and dismantle” Hezbollah’s infrastructure and capabilities, the military said.

It is unclear how many people have been killed in the Israeli strikes on densely populated urban areas.

The United Nations says fighting has displaced more than 200,000 Lebanese in the past week.

TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian state television says a flight from Tehran bound for Lebanon was turned away from Beirut airport on Saturday.

It reported that the decision came following a warning by Israel that the airport could be targeted if the passenger plane landed.

Israel’s military says it will not allow the civilian airport to be used for military purposes and that pilots are patrolling the skies over the airport for weapons smuggling.

Sky News reported that Lebanon’s transport minister intervened to stop the plane from landing.

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran’s supreme leader has urged all Muslims to stand by Hezbollah against Israel, but has not indicated how Tehran will respond to the reported killing of the group‘s leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Iran is the main backer of Hezbollah and other anti-Israeli militant groups in the region.

In his first comments since Israel claimed to have killed Nasrallah, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, “it is the duty of all Muslims to stand by the people of Lebanon and Hezbollah” against the “occupier, evil and suppressor” regime of Israel.

In a statement read on state TV, he said “all regional resistance forces” support and stand beside Hezbollah.

Iran’s influential parliamentary committee on national security met Saturday and demanded a “strong” response to Israel, state TV reported.

In April, for the first time, Iran fired hundreds of missiles and drones toward Israel following an Israeli strike that killed Iranian military advisors.

JERUSALEM — Israel's military says it expects Hezbollah to retaliate for the death of its leader Hassan Nasrallah and is on “high readiness.”

Army spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said much of Hezbollah’s arsenal remains intact despite intense Israeli strikes over the past week, and that Israel will continue to target the group.

“This isn’t a threat that has gone away,” he said. Shoshani said it is “safe to assume” that Hezbollah will retaliate.

But he said Israel hopes the blow “will change Hezbollah’s actions” and alter the course of the war.

Shoshani said the airstrike targeting Nasrallah was based on years of tracking him, along with “real-time information.” He said Israel confirmed the death through various types of intelligence, though he declined to elaborate.

COLOGNE, Germany — The European Union Aviation Safety Agency has recommended that airlines not operate in Lebanese or Israeli airspace.

The Cologne, Germany-based EASA said Saturday that “an overall intensification of air strikes and degradation in the security situation has been noted, impacting the safety of airspace over Israel and Lebanon.”

It did not cite any one specific event in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah as a trigger for issuing its “conflict zone information bulletins” for the two countries.

It said the recommendation is valid until Oct. 31 but could be reviewed earlier and adapted or withdrawn.

TEL AVIV, Israel — The Israeli military said Saturday that it killed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Hezbollah militant group, in a strike in Beirut on Friday.

The military said that it carried out a precise airstrike while Hezbollah leadership met at their headquarters in Dahiyeh, south of Beirut.

Ali Karki, the Commander of Hezbollah’s Southern Front, and additional Hezbollah commanders, were also killed in the attack, the Israeli military said. The Lebanese Health Ministry said that 6 people were killed and 91 injured in the strikes on Friday, which leveled six apartment buildings.

Nasrallah has led Hezbollah for more than three decades. There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah.

Israel maintained a heavy barrage of airstrikes against Hezbollah on Saturday, as Hezbollah launched dozens of rockets toward Israel.

TEL AVIV, Israel — The Israeli military said it was mobilizing additional reserve soldiers as tensions escalate with Lebanon. The military said Saturday morning it was activating three battalions of reserve soldiers, after earlier sending two brigades to northern Israel earlier in the week to train for a possible ground invasion.

CAIRO — An Israeli airstrike killed at least two people and wounded 11 others in the central Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza, the Awda hospital said.

The strike hit a house late Friday in the camp, according to the hospital which received the casualties in the first hours of Saturday.

More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the nearly year-long war.

TEL AVIV, Israel — Hezbollah launched more than two dozen projectiles toward Israel Saturday morning, triggering sirens in more than 100 cities and towns across Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The Israeli military said a surface-to-surface missile was fired from Lebanese territory and fell in an open area in central Israel. Israeli media said the missile fell in the sea.

No injuries or damages were reported, according to Israel’s Fire and Rescue Services.

While Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire since Oct. 8 mostly in the area around the border, in the past weeks, the strikes have targeted much deeper into both countries.

BEIRUT — Patients in hospitals in Beirut’s southern suburbs will be evacuated to medical centers in the capital and the nearby Mount Lebanon region, Lebanon’s Health Ministry says.

In a statement carried by state news agency early Saturday, the ministry called on hospitals in Beirut and Mount Lebanon to stop receiving cases that can be delayed in order to receive patients evacuating from the hard-hit southern suburb Dahiyeh.

BEIRUT — Smoke rose from Beirut’s southern suburbs Saturday morning and the streets were empty after the area was pummeled overnight by heavy Israeli airstrikes.

Explosions rocked Beirut’s southern suburbs, with flames lighting up the pre-dawn darkness. Fire raged from at least one location, and smoke and flames were seen from above Beirut early Saturday. Residents reported jets flying overhead.

In a short statement, the Israeli military described the sites it hit as belonging to Hezbollah. Authorities there did not immediately acknowledge if there were any casualties.

Shelters set up in the city center for people displaced by the onslaught were overflowing. Many families slept in public squares and beaches, or in their cars. On the roads leading to the mountains above the capital, hundreds of people could be seen making an exodus on foot, holding infants and whatever belongings they could carry.

Smoke rises as a building collapses in Beirut's southern suburbs, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A woman reacts after hearing the news of the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Flame and smoke rise from Israeli airstrikes hit a residential area that is a Hezbollah stronghold, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

FILE - In this Oct. 24, 2015 file photo, Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah addresses a crowd during the holy day of Ashoura, in a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)

Palestinian supporters march near the United Nations headquarters at a protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the 79th session of the UN General Assembly, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Mourners chant slogans as they carry the coffin of Hezbollah drone commander, Mohammed Hussein Surour, during his funeral procession in Beirut's southern suburbs, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Israeli soldiers work on tanks in northern Israel on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Lebanese citizens watch smoke rise from Israeli airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)