Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah killed in Beirut air strike, says Israeli military

The Israeli military says it has killed Hassan Nasrallah, secretary-general and leader of Hezbollah, the militant group based in Lebanon.

Hezbollah has confirmed Nasrallah’s death in the strike. The group said its leader “has joined his fellow martyrs”, adding that it would “continue the holy war against the enemy and in support of Palestine”.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said some top Hezbollah commanders were also killed on Friday during air strikes on Beirut, Lebanon’s capital city.

The strikes reduced buildings to rubble in a densely populated area, killing at least six people and injuring dozens.

Israel launched further strikes on southern Beirut on the night, targeting what it said were stores hiding Hezbollah weapons.

“Hassan Nasrallah will no longer be able to terrorise the world,” the IDF said in a post on X on Saturday.

Nasrallah is one of the most influential, mysterious and revered figures in the Middle East.

Boasting personal links to Iran, Nasrallah is credited with turning Hezbollah into the political and military force it has become.

According to the BBC, under Nasrallah, Hezbollah trained fighters from Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, as well as militias in Iraq and Yemen.

He also reportedly obtained missiles and rockets from Iran.

PROLONGED CONFLICT

Israel and Hezbollah intensified air strike exchanges in August.

On August 25, the Israeli military said 100 of its fighter jets launched pre-emptive strikes into Lebanon after identifying that Hezbollah was “preparing to fire missiles and rockets toward Israeli territory”.

Israel said the jets “struck and destroyed thousands of rocket launcher barrels” across dozens of launch sites in Lebanon.

Shortly after the strikes from Israel, Hezbollah said it launched hundreds of rockets and drones into Israeli territory.

The group said it fired more than 320 rockets, adding that the “first phase” of its attack against Israel was complete.

It said the strikes were a retaliation for the assassination of a senior commander in Beirut by Israel.

In mid-September, at least a dozen people were reported killed and about 2,750 wounded after pagers exploded across Lebanon.

Israel was blamed for the explosion of the pagers.

A pager is a wireless communications device that receives and displays messages.

Hezbollah uses pagers as a low-tech means of communication to ostensibly evade tracking by Israel.