Jerusalem, Sep 28 (EFE).- Israel said Saturday that the leader of the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, has been killed.
Nasrallah was killed when Israel bombed the group’s headquarters in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Friday evening, the Israeli army said.
“Hassan Nasrallah is dead,” Israel’s military spokesman for the international media, Nadav Shoshani, said Saturday on X. Hours later, Hezbollah confirmed the death of its secretary-general.
In a statement, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed the death of Nasrallah along with other Hezbollah commanders, including Ali Karki, commander of the Shiite group’s Southern Front, who were at the organization’s underground headquarters in Dahye, a Hezbollah stronghold on the southern outskirts of the Lebanese capital, when it was struck by Israeli bombs on Friday.
“The strike was conducted while Hezbollah’s senior chain of command was operating from the headquarters and advancing terrorist activities against the citizens of the State of Israel,” the IDF statement claimed.
Nasrallah’s death is the latest blow Israel has dealt to the senior Hezbollah leadership.
Israel killed Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr, Nasrallah’s close adviser, in a bombing in Beirut on July 30. A few hours later, leader of the Palestinian group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in an Israeli-attributed attack in Tehran.
“The message is simple, to anyone who threatens the citizens of the State of Israel, we will know how to get to them,” Army Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said after Nasrallah’s death was confirmed.
Halevi added that the strike was “not the end of the tools” at Israel’s disposal.
The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, which has been simmering since October, severely escalated this month.
Friday night’s bombing was the sixth attack on the area since the start of the crossfire between Israel and Hezbollah on Oct. 8, 2023 – the day after Israel launched its offensive in the Gaza Strip – and the fourth in just the past week.
On Sept. 17 and Sept. 18, a wave of explosions in personal wireless devices belonging to of the Lebanese armed political movement, killed dozens of people and injured more than 1,000.
Those explosions have been followed by a steadily intensifying Israeli bombing campaign across southern and eastern Lebanon.
On Sep 20, more than 50 people were killed in an Israeli bombing that destroyed two buildings in Dahye.
On Thursday, the commander of Hezbollah’s air unit, Muhamad Hossein Sarur, as well as at least one other person, were killed.
This week alone, more than 700 people have been killed and 120,000 have been displaced.
Following the news of Nasrallah’s killing, Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran – Hezbollah’s main ally and backer – urged Muslims around the world to the Lebanese group and help it “confront the usurping, cruel and wicked (Israeli) regime.” EFE
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