London: Short of bombing Tehran, there was no bigger escalation available to Israel than attempting to kill Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary-general of Hezbollah, but that is exactly what has done.

It is a gamble extraordinaire; the repercussions could be immense, and felt for years to come.

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah speaks in a televised address via a video link during a ceremony to commemorate the death of several members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in April.Credit: AP

The first signs of a major Israeli escalation came as huge blasts and secondary explosions ripped through the southern suburbs of Beirut as the sun fell on the Lebanese capital on Friday evening (Saturday AEST).

Witnesses said they had........

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