What happened
Israel yesterday attacked Hezbollah in Lebanon, Houthis in Yemen and Hamas in Gaza, hitting the three Iran-backed proxies as it amassed troops along its northern border for a possible ground invasion of Lebanon. Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon over the weekend killed longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and other top leaders of the militant group. Two weeks of Israeli attacks have killed more than 1,000 people in Lebanon, displaced up to a million others and nudged the region toward all-out war.

Who said what
Nasrallah's death is "major blow to Iran," weakening Tehran's "best armed and most well-equipped ally in the region," Reuters said. In a show of "nervousness by the Iranian authorities," Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been "taken to a secure location." The crumbling of Hezbollah has opened "fissures" in Iran's government, The New York Times said. Significantly, Khamenei "signaled that it would be Hezbollah, not Iran," that struck back, suggesting he's choosing "lying low in the interest of self-preservation" over "all-out war with Israel."

Israel didn't just kill Nasrallah and his senior leadership team, it also "eviscerated decades of myths and assumptions about Hezbollah's military might" and its stature as a "regional powerhouse," The Washington Post said. Hezbollah "appears to have gravely overestimated its own strength and underestimated Israel's willingness to take it on" and the "extent to which Israeli intelligence had penetrated the organization."

What next?
Hezbollah may have "become a victim of its own hubris," The Wall Street Journal said, but "Israel now risks falling into a similar trap, especially if it launches a ground invasion of Lebanon," where Hezbollah "retains thousands of battle-hardened fighters and a large arsenal." Hezbollah is expected to pick Hashim Safieddine, head of its executive council and Nasrallah's cousin, as its new leader.

What happened
Kris Kristofferson, an Oxford-educated Rhodes Scholar and Army veteran who wrote hit songs for Janis Joplin and Johnny Cash before starring in Hollywood movies, died Saturday at his home in Maui, a family spokesperson said yesterday evening. He was 88 and no cause of death was offered.

Who said what
Kristofferson, "who could recite William Blake from memory, wove intricate folk music lyrics about loneliness and tender romance into popular country music," The Associated Press said. His "rugged brand of sensitivity brought him acclaim as a poet laureate of intimacy and longing," The Washington Post said. In 1970, the year Kristofferson released his first album, three of his songs hit No. 1 on the country charts: "Sunday Mornin’ Comin' Down," sung by Cash, his friend and mentor; Joplin's "Me and Bobby McGee," her last recording before her fatal overdose; and Sammi Smith's version of "Help Me Make it Through The Night."

A gig opening for Linda Ronstadt in Los Angeles led to a second career in acting, where Kristofferson won a Golden Globe for  1976's"A Star is Born" and had starring roles in "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore," "Lone Star," and the "Blade" vampire-slayer franchise. His music career rebounded when he began touring with Cash, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings in the supergroup The Highwaymen between 1985 and 1995, and despite health problems, he "remained active into his 80s," The New York Times said.

What next?
“There's no better songwriter alive than Kris Kristofferson," Nelson — the last living Highwayman — said in 2009 at a BMI award ceremony for Kristofferson. "Everything he writes is a standard and we're all just going to have to live with that."