In a decisive strike against Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group engaged in a year of cross-border conflict with Israel, its leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike on south Beirut on Friday night. This was confirmed by Hezbollah on Saturday.
The Lebanese movement, in a statement released on Saturday, declared that “Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Secretary General of Hezbollah, has joined his great, immortal martyr comrades whom he led for about 30 years.” The Israeli military, earlier on Saturday, asserted that they had eliminated Nasrallah in an airstrike on the group’s central headquarters in the southern suburbs of Beirut the previous day.
“We eliminated … Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Hezbollah terrorist organization,” Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee stated in a statement on X (formerly Twitter). In a subsequent post on X, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) declared, “Hassan Nasrallah will no longer be able to terrorise the world.” This announcement follows Israel’s overnight airstrikes in Beirut, Lebanon’s capital, targeting Nasrallah and other Hezbollah commanders.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday condemned Israel’s actions, labeling their policy in the region as “short-sighted.” “The massacre of the defenceless people in Lebanon once again… proved the short-sighted and stupid policy of the leaders of the usurping regime,” Khamenei stated in a statement, without addressing Nasrallah’s fate.
In recent days, Israel has shifted its operational focus from Gaza to Lebanon, where intense bombing has resulted in over 700 deaths and the displacement of around 118,000 individuals. Israel’s army chief Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi on Saturday stated: “The message is simple, anyone who threatens the citizens of Israel – we will know how to reach them.”
The military also declared that “most of the senior leaders of Hezbollah have been eliminated”, having previously announced the deaths of Hezbollah commanders Muhammad Ali Ismail and Ali Karake, among others. Nasrallah’s demise represents a significant blow to Hezbollah, potentially altering the dynamics of the ongoing conflict. The implications of this event are still unfolding, but it is certain to have far-reaching consequences for the region.
