Israel claims Hezbollah leader Nasrallah killed in Beirut strike
The Israeli army claimed on Saturday that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed after it launched a series of air strikes on the Lebanese capital Beirut a day earlier, in an assassination that risks triggering all-out war in a region already teetering on the edge.
Israeli fighter jets fired approximately ten bunker-busting bombs at residential buildings in the southern neighbourhood of Dahiyeh on Friday, with footage seen by Middle East Eye showing thick plumes of smoke emerging from the blast site.
The Israeli military immediately confirmed it was behind the raids, and initially claimed it targeted Hezbollah's command centre. Later, Israeli media reported that Nasrallah, 64, was the intended target of the strikes, but did not confirm whether he was killed.
Hezbollah also didn't immediately comment on whether he was killed, but in an effort to show it force, fired several rockets at sites in northern Israel.
However, on Saturday, the Israeli army posted a message on X, saying, "Hassan Nasrallah will no longer be able to terrorise the world."
The Arabic spokesman of the Israeli army, Avichay Adraee, said in a statement on X that Nasrallah, Ali Karki, the commander of Hezbollah's southern front, and a number of other commanders, were also killed.
"The message is clear: We will reach everyone who threatens the citizens of Israel in the north, in the south, and on more distant fronts."
Citing two Iranian officials, the New York Times reported that Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called an emergency session of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council at his home in response to the strikes.
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters in New York, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reaffirmed Israel’s right to self-defence, and said Washington would take "every measure" if its interests in the region were attacked.
"Israel has the right to defend itself against terrorism," Blinken said.
But to "anyone using this to target American personnel, American interests in the region, the United States will take every measure," he added.
Blinken's remarks came shortly after Abu Alaa al-Walaei, a senior commander from Iraq's Sayyid al-Shuhada Brigades, warned that if an all-out war broke out, his group would target US and Israeli interests in the region.
"Even the [United Arab] Emirates, which we consider the advanced site of the usurping entity will be the first line of targeting," al-Walaei said, according to the Hezbollah-affiliated Al Mayadeen website.
In an attempt to de-escalate tensions, a Pentagon spokesperson said the US didn't have advance warning of the attacks. The spokesperson added that US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart as the operation was ongoing.
Nasrallah's killing could serve as a major blow to Hezbollah after the longtime leader oversaw the transformation of the group into a major political force both in Lebanon and the wider Middle East.
Born in 1960 to a poor Shia family from east Beirut's Karantina, Nasrallah became head of Hezbollah's executive council in 1985 as well as a member of its shura council.
In 1992, Hezbollah's then-leader, Sayyed Abbas Mussawi, was killed in an Israeli air strike along with his wife and child. Speaking at his funeral, Nasrallah said: "We will continue this path… even if we are martyred, all of us and our houses demolished over our heads, we will not abandon the choice of the Islamic resistance."
Nasrallah then took the reins of the group and soon after, Hezbollah began to acquire more sophisticated weaponry including longer-range rockets that could penetrate more areas in Israel.
Under Nasrallah, whose surname translates as "victory through God", Hezbollah grew from a local armed movement to the largest political party in Lebanon’s recent history.
In October 2021, Nasrallah said that Hezbollah had 100,000 fighters, making it also among the most powerful non-state armed organisations in the world.
Nasrallah also maintained Hezbollah's reputation throughout the Arab world as the only armed force to have driven Israel into retreating from an Arab country.
The Hezbollah leader's speeches would often attract the attention of the Middle East and beyond.
During his time as Hezbollah's number one, Nasrallah also saw the further cementing of ties within Iran’s "axis of resistance", which includes Hezbollah, the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the Palestinian movements Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the Houthi movement in Yemen, and several Iraqi paramilitary groups.
Following Friday's strikes, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Houthi movement and the Islamic Resistance of Iraq all released statements of condemnation against Israel.
"We renew our absolute solidarity with the brotherly Lebanese people and the brothers in Hezbollah and the Islamic resistance in Lebanon," Hamas said in a statement.
"We share their pain and hope for victory over this Zionist enemy, and we value and commend their sacrifices and steadfastness in the epic of open accountability in support of our people and our resistance, and in response and defence of the brotherly Lebanese people."
According to analysts, the man widely regarded as Nasrallah's heir, Hashem Safieddine, was also still alive after Friday's attack.
Safieddine, who oversees Hezbollah's political affairs and sits on the group's Jihad Council, is a cousin of Nasrallah and like him is a cleric and descent from the Prophet Muhammad.
The US State Department designated Safieddine a terrorist in 2017, and in June he threatened a big escalation against Israel after the killing of another Hezbollah commander.