Israeli army announces death of Hezbollah leader Nasrallah

The Israeli army says it has killed Hezbollah leader Nasrallah. He died in an airstrike on the militia headquarters on Friday. Hezbollah has since confirmed his death.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an attack in Beirut on Friday, according to Israeli sources. “Hassan Nasrallah will no longer be able to terrorize the world,” the Israeli military said.

The pro-Iranian terrorist group has since confirmed the death of its leader. Nasrallah had switched to “his master’s side” and joined his “great and immortal martyrs,” she said on Telegram.

Nasrallah was the group’s leader for more than three decades. His death is Israel’s worst blow to Hezbollah, one of its biggest enemies in decades. The message of eliminating Nasrallah is simple, said Israeli Army Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi. Israel knows how to reach anyone who threatens its citizens.

Massive attacks on Friday

During massive air strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut on Friday, Israel bombed, among other things, the Hezbollah headquarters in Dahije, which is said to have been located under residential buildings.

The military carried out a precise airstrike during a meeting of the Hezbollah leadership, it was now said. Israeli media had already reported on Friday evening that the attack in the Lebanese capital was aimed at Nasrallah.

According to the military, Hezbollah commander Ali Karki and other militia commanders were also killed in the attack. The Lebanese Ministry of Health reported six deaths and 91 injured on Friday. Six residential buildings are said to have been destroyed in the attack. The number of deaths may therefore be significantly higher. After the attack, thick clouds of smoke could be seen, followed by large piles of rubble.

Iran’s reaction uncertain

Hezbollah has been hit hard by massive attacks by Israel in recent weeks. It is significantly weakened in terms of its leadership, its means of communication and probably also its fighting morale.

However, the spiritual leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Hezbollah’s closest ally, declared that the “Zionist criminals” were “far too insignificant to be able to inflict serious damage on the strong structure of Hezbollah in Lebanon.” All Muslims must support the Lebanese people and the “proud Hezbollah” according to their abilities.

Khamenei did not comment directly on Nasrallah’s death. If this is confirmed, a threshold may have been reached that would force Iran to take retaliatory action, he says ARD correspondent Katharina Willinger in Teheran.

In the last few weeks, the pressure on the Iranian government from hardliners has increased immensely. “Tonight there were already demonstrations by hardliners on the streets here in Tehran and some have also been announced for the afternoon,” said Willinger.

Head of Hezbollah since 1992

Nasrallah had been at the head of the Shiite militia since 1992. He was one of Israel’s most difficult opponents and coordinated closely with Iran and its Revolutionary Guard. He has transformed the militia into a much more powerful and dangerous organization than it was during his predecessor’s time.

Nasrallah, who was killed at the age of 64, received his religious education in the two main centers of Shiite Muslims: the Iraqi pilgrimage city of Najaf and Iran’s Qom. In 1982 he joined the newly founded “Party of God”.

After the death of leader Abbas al-Mussawi, whom Israel killed in 1992, he was elected as his successor. He considered Hezbollah’s great triumph to be the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon in 2000 and what they described as a “divine victory” after the end of the war in 2006.

Continue mutual air strikes

Israel continued its airstrikes on targets in Lebanon today. The attacks were directed, among other things, against “terrorist targets of the terrorist organization Hezbollah” in the eastern Bekaa region and in “several areas in southern Lebanon,” the army said.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, fired dozens of rockets at targets in Israel. A group of Israeli soldiers was attacked with artillery shells in northern Israel. A volley of rockets was fired at the northern Israeli town of Sa’ar. In response to the “brutal Israeli attacks,” rockets were also fired at the town of Rosh Pina.