Israel announces killing of Hezbollah leader

Israeli Defense Force (IDF) says it has killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

“Hassan Nasrallah will no longer be able to terrorise the world,” the IDF said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Saturday morning.

Mr Nasrallah, for over three decades, has been the leader of the Iranian-backed militant group, Hezbollah.

He was the main target in the precise Israeli airstrike on the Hezbollah central headquarters in Dahiyeh, a suburb of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, on Friday.

The IDF had earlier released a statement saying two senior Hezbollah officials were killed in the strike.

“Muhammad Ismail, the commander of Hezbollah’s Missile Unit in southern Lebanon, and his deputy, Hussein Ahmad Ismail, were eliminated in a precise IAF strike,” the IDF said in a statement on X on Saturday morning.

“Ali Ismail was responsible for directing numerous terrorist attacks against the State of Israel, including the firing of rockets toward Israeli territory and the launch of a surface-to-surface missile toward central Israel on Wednesday.”

Massive explosion, levelling of buildings

A video of the Israeli attack shows a massive explosion levelling buildings in the Beirut Hezbollah headquarters and sending black and orange clouds billowing up the sky.

An unnamed senior US official told ABC News that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was the target of the airstrike.

The official said Mr Nasrallah and some of his lieutenants were in Beirut for a quick visit when the strike took place.

According to ABC News, Israel used bunker busters, a munition designed to penetrate targets underground in the strike.

In a short video confirming the attack via X, IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said the Hezbollah headquarters was intentionally built near residential buildings as part of Hezbollah’s strategy of using civilians as human shields.

“On 8 October 2023, Hezbollah started attacking Israel, after almost a year of Hezbollah firing rockets, missiles and suicide dones at Israeli civilians. After almost a year of Israel warning the world and telling them that Hezbollah must be stopped.

“Israel is doing what every sovereign state in the world would do if they have a terror organisation that seeks their destruction on their border, taking necessary action to secure their homes so that Israeli families can live safely,” Mr Hagari said.

“In the last hour, we have contacted the residents of the three buildings in the Dahiyeh, these residents are above and near Hezbollah’s strategic assets and must evacuate immediately for their safety and security,” Mr Hagari said in a televised broadcast, according to ABC News.

The Lebanese Health Ministry has confirmed the death of two persons and 70 others injured in the strike.

It is not clear if Mr Nasallah, the main target in the strike, was killed in the strike but the IDF has successfully eliminated several Hezbollah and Hamas leaders in the aftermath of the 7 October 2023 Palestinian militant attack at an Israeli music festival, killing over a hundred people, with over a thousand injured and taking over one hundred hostages.

“Don’t let Nasrallah drag Lebanon into the abyss,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during his address to the UN an hour before the strike.

“We’re not at war with you. We’re at war with Hezbollah, which has hijacked your country and threatens to destroy ours. As long as Hezbollah chooses the path of war, Israel has no choice. Israel must defeat Hezbollah,” Mr Netanyahu said during a UN address where delegates from several countries walked out, apparently in protest of his military actions in Gaza.

He told the UN General Assembly that Israel is “winning” in its fight against terrorists and their patrons in Iran who perpetrated the 7 October terror attacks on his country.

“I have a message for the tyrants of Tehran,” Mr Netanyahu said. “If you strike us, we will strike you. There is no place – there is no place in Iran that the long arm of Israel cannot reach, and that’s true of the entire Middle East.”

Was US notified before the attack?

Voice of America quoted Israeli sources as saying the US had been notified ahead of time, moments before the airstrike, but Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh told reporters Friday that the US did not have advance warning of the strike. Ms Singh said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke to his Israeli counterpart only after the Israeli operation was underway.

After the attack, the Iranian Foreign Ministry in a statement described the US as “an accomplice” in Israel’s attack and that both countries should be held accountable.

Iran reacts

The Iranian Foreign Ministry said the attack was a “flagrant violation of the rules and regulations of international law as well as the sovereignty and territorial integrity and national security of Lebanon [and] is considered a war crime.”

Despite the airstrike, the defiant Hezbollah has continued hitting targets in Israel as rockets fired from Lebanon toward Northern Israel were intercepted Friday evening by Israel’s Iron Dome defence system, Voice of America reported.