Lebanese Hezbollah announced on Saturday September 28 that its leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed. He thus confirmed the information reported earlier by the Israeli army, which said it had struck the movement’s headquarters in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Friday evening.
It was the Haret Hreik district, a Hezbollah stronghold, which was bombed on Friday evening. After the strikes targeting Hezbollah’s stronghold on Friday evening, new strikes targeted Hezbollah’s stronghold in Beirut on Saturday. But the Lebanese Shiite movement, supported by Iran, has said it wants to continue its battle against Israel, “in support of Gaza and Palestine and in defense of Lebanon and its steadfast and honorable people”.
A hard blow and renewed tensions?
Hezbollah did not specify the circumstances of the death of its leader, while the movement’s Al Manar television channel began broadcasting verses from the Koran. For its part, Hamas said in a statement that it regretted the murder of the Hezbollah leader, assuring that his death would only strengthen the fight against Israel.
“The crimes and assassinations committed by the occupation will only increase the determination and perseverance of the resistance in Palestine and Lebanon to advance with all its strength, with all its bravery and with all its pride in the footsteps of the martyrs and to continue the path of resistance until victory and the end of the occupation”writes the Palestinian movement in its press release.
The death of Hassan Nasrallah, however, constitutes a hard blow. For Hezbollah, but also for Iran, whose Revolutionary Guards founded the movement in 1982.
Five days of national mourning
The supreme leader of the Islamic Revolution since 1989, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called on Muslims on Saturday to “stand alongside the Lebanese people and proud Hezbollah by all means at their disposal and to help them confront the evil regime (of Israel).
Iran announced five days of mourning after the death of Hassan Nasrallah and Iran’s first vice president, Mohammad Reza Aref, vowed that the assassination of the Hezbollah leader will bring about the “destruction” of Israel.
“Israel’s war is not against the Lebanese people”, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declared on Saturday. “He (Nasrallah) murdered thousands of Israelis and foreign citizens. He posed an immediate threat to the lives of thousands of Israelis and other citizens”he added in a press release. “To the people of Lebanon, I say: our war is not against you. It is time for change to happen”continued Yoav Gallant.
Who to succeed Nasrallah?
Lebanese Hezbollah therefore confirmed in a statement on Saturday that its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed. But the Lebanese Shiite movement, backed by Iran, added that it would continue its battle against Israel “in support of Gaza and Palestine and in defense of Lebanon and its steadfast and honorable people”.
This death shined the spotlight on Hachem Safieddine, a man widely considered to be the heir of Hassan Nasrallah. As head of Hezbollah’s executive council, Hachem Safieddine oversees the movement’s political affairs, and also sits on the Jihad Council, which directs Hezbollah’s military operations.
Cousin of Hassan Nasrallah, like him a cleric wearing a black turban, he threatened, in June, a major escalation against Israel after another Hezbollah commander was killed.
