Hezbollah’s Nasrallah killed in Lebanon airstrikes, Israel says

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed on Friday in a series of blasts that destroyed an underground command center in southern Beirut, Israel said on Saturday.

“The Israel Defense Forces confirm that Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Hezbollah terrorist organization and one of its founders, was eliminated yesterday,” the Israeli government said in a statement posted online.

One of the most prominent figures in the Iran-led “Axis of Resistance,” the Lebanese cleric had headed the militant group since 1992, after his predecessor, Abbas al-Musawi, was killed in an Israeli airstrike.

Explosions rocked the Lebanese capital on Friday as part of what Israeli officials said was a targeted attempt on Nasrallah’s life, ordered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be launched shortly after he gave a speech at the United Nations in which he vowed to continue the military campaign.

An estimated 700 people have been killed in attacks across the south of the country and the capital in recent days, with around 90,000 forced to flee their homes. 

Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said earlier this week that the Israeli military was preparing for a possible occupation of territory in Lebanon, warning “military boots will enter enemy territory.”

While Hezbollah is yet to confirm or deny the fate of Nasrallah, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, issued a statement on Saturday insisting that “all the Resistance forces in the region support and stand alongside Hezbollah” and called on the Lebanese people to “confront and usurp” Israel.