Hebzollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli strike, the IDF said this Saturday, without the pro-Iranian movement confirming his death. A source close to him confirmed “lost contact” since Friday.
“Hassan Nasrallah is dead,” an Israeli army spokesperson, Lieutenant-Colonel Nadav Shoshani, declared on Saturday morning on X. Another army spokesperson, Captain David Avraham, confirmed to AFP that the Hezbollah leader had been “eliminated” in the strike which targeted an area of the southern suburbs of Beirut on Friday, presented by Israel as the HQ of the movement.
Shortly after this strike, a source close to Hezbollah assured that its leader was “doing well”. But on Saturday morning, another source close to the pro-Iranian group admitted that contact had been “lost” with Hassan Nasrallah since Friday evening, without confirming his death.
A new Israeli strike targeted the southern suburbs of Beirut, a stronghold of Hezbollah, on Saturday, a Lebanese security source told AFP, after a night of intense bombing.
Displaced people from southern Lebanon settle in Beirut
Israeli raid on Friday leaving at least six dead and 91 injured
The 64-year-old Hezbollah leader is considered the most powerful man in Lebanon. For years he has lived in hiding and rarely appears in public. Just before 6:30 p.m. local time on Friday, huge explosions rang out across Beirut and its surrounding areas, causing panic among residents.
A “series of Israeli strikes targeted the southern suburbs” of the capital, a stronghold of Hezbollah, reported the official Lebanese press agency. Columns of smoke rising from different locations are visible in images broadcast live by local television and ambulance sirens sounded across the Lebanese capital.
The raid destroyed dozens of buildings, forced hundreds of people to flee and left at least six dead, according to a report from the Lebanese Ministry of Health. At the site of the strikes, in Haret Hreik, several huge craters measuring up to five meters in diameter were visible, according to AFP photographers on site.
“Precise strike on Hezbollah headquarters,” says Israel
Israel said shortly after carrying out a “precise strike” on Hezbollah’s “headquarters” in Beirut’s southern suburbs. The army spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, specified that this headquarters was “located under residential buildings in the heart of Dahiyeh”, the Arabic term for “suburb”.
A source close to Hezbollah said the strikes targeted buildings in a residential area where there are organizations and offices belonging to Hezbollah and its elected officials. Throughout the night, Israeli strikes targeted several areas of the southern suburbs.
After an evacuation warning issued Friday evening by the Israeli army, hundreds of residents of the southern suburbs fled in haste towards the capital a few kilometers away. Entire families slept in the street, in the city center or along the corniche. Hezbollah claimed responsibility for several rocket attacks against northern Israel on Saturday.
Iran’s supreme leader denounces ‘short-sighted’ Israeli vision
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei denounced on Saturday a “short-sighted” Israeli political vision, after Israel announced the elimination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, without mentioning the name of the Lebanese leader.
“The massacre of defenseless people in Lebanon has once again revealed the ferocity of the Zionist mad dog, proven the short-sighted and stupid policy of the leaders of the usurper regime,” castigated the guide, in a press release published on its site .
