IRIA News

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Hezbollah has confirmed the killing of its longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli airstrike in the Lebanese capital of Beirut on September 27, 2024. The confirmation came a few hours after the Israeli army announced the killing of Nasrallah, after carrying out a large-scale attack on Lebanon.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it “eliminated” Nasrallah in a Friday strike on Hezbollah’s “central headquarters” that leveled several residential buildings in the southern suburbs of Beirut. Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called it “the most important targeted strike since the founding of the State of Israel.”

The Iran-backed Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah said in its statement that Nasrallah “has joined his fellow martyrs” and vowed to “continue the holy war against the enemy and in support of Palestine.”

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps said its commander in Lebanon, Abbas Nilforoushan, was also killed in the Israeli strike.

The Israeli military has expanded war on multiple fronts in the region, rejecting ceasefire calls from the European Union (EU). Israeli air forces began bombardment of Lebanon after its catastrophic military offensive despite growing international calls for a ceasefire.

Israeli strikes have razed buildings to rubble in Beirut. At least 11 people have been killed and more than 100 injured since Israel strikes on Friday on the Dahiya, a densely populated area south of Beirut, Lebanon’s health minister, Firass Abiad, said.

More than 700 people, including at least 150 women and children, have been killed in Lebanon over the past few days during intense fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. Nearly 200,000 Lebanese people have been displaced, according to the UN, in a country facing sharp poverty, economic instability, and limited access to healthcare.

Hezbollah says it has been firing on Israel in solidarity with Palestinians trying to survive Israeli attacks in Gaza, which have killed 41,586 people and injured another 96,210, according to Gaza Ministry of Health.

Monumental blow to Hezbollah and fears of regional escalation

The recent strikes in Lebanon and the assassination of Nasrallah mark a significant escalation in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, which has intensified in recent weeks, prompting fears that it could spill over into a regional war.

Lebanon’s former prime minister, Saad Hariri, condemned Israel’s killing of Nasrallah, saying it “plunges Lebanon and the region into a new phase of violence. It is a cowardly act condemned in its entirety by we who paid dearly for the lives of our loved ones when assassination became an alternative to politics.”

The killing of Nasrallah, a key figure among anti-Israel forces across the Middle East, dealt a severe blow to Hezbollah, bringing an era of the group’s prolonged conflict with Israel to a close and leaving its future direction in doubt.

Lebanese political analyst Ronnie Chatah said the attack’s significance cannot be overstated. “This is, by far, the deepest psychological blow to this organization since its inception. Hezbollah cannot be the same without Hassan Nasrallah,” he said.

Israel has vowed to intensify pressure on Hezbollah and is reportedly preparing for a limited ground incursion into Lebanon. Israel’s Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, said that the killing of Nasrallah was “not the end of our toolbox,” indicating that more strikes were planned.

The killings and Israeli strikes in Lebanon, targeting top Hezbollah commanders came days after the explosion of thousands of communications devices, mainly pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members, that killed 37 people and wounded thousands. Around 30 top Hezbollah leaders over the last several weeks., according to U.S. and Israeli sources.

Who is Hassan Nasrallah?

Nasrallah, 64, was regarded as one of the most influential figures in the Middle East and has played a key role in transforming Hezbollah into a major military and political force. Over the years, he played multiple roles in the group, serving once as a religious guide, a political strategist, and also commander-in-chief.

Born in 1960 into a Shiite family in Beirut’s impoverished northern suburb of Sharshabouk, Nasrallah joined the Amal movement, a Shiite political and paramilitary organization, before becoming one of the founders of the Iranian-backed group, Hezbollah.

Nasrallah became the group‘s third secretary-general in 1992, after his predecessor, Abbas al-Musawi, was killed by Israeli missiles.

Under Nasrallah’s leadership, Hezbollah became one of the most powerful militias in the Middle East. Nasrallah rose to iconic status both within Lebanon and throughout the Arab world after Hezbollah was credited with leading the war that led to the withdrawal of Israeli troops from south Lebanon in 2000, ending an 18-year occupation.

Nasrallah’s eldest son, Hadi, was killed in fighting with the Israeli army in 1997 — the same year the U.S. designated Hezbollah a terrorist organization. Nasrallah continually turned down calls for Hezbollah’s disarmament, saying, “Hezbollah giving up its weapons … would leave Lebanon exposed before Israel.”

As the leader of Hezbollah for more than 30 years, Nasrallah reformed Hezbollah into an archenemy of Israel, strengthening alliances with Shiite leaders and Palestinian militant groups such as Hamas. His followers saw him as someone who stood up to Israeli and Western forces that may weaken the Middle East.

Hezbollah faced one of its most significant challenges after the group opened up a front against Israel to take pressure off its ally Hamas in Gaza, in October 2023. In his speeches during the recent conflict, he insisted that Hezbollah would not halt its attacks on Israel until a ceasefire is reached in Gaza. The group suffered serious losses after months of cross-border fighting and targeted Israeli attacks.