The Israeli military has confirmed it eliminated Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and other senior commanders of the Iranian-backed terror group through a Friday airstrike on their underground headquarters in Beirut, Lebanon.
“Hassan Nasrallah will no longer be able to terrorize the world,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced Saturday morning.
Nasrallah’s death was also confirmed by Hezbollah hours later. The terror group vowed to continue fighting against Israel “in support of Gaza and Palestine, and in defense of Lebanon and its steadfast and honorable people,” it said.
After Nasrallah’s death, Hezbollah continued firing rockets and missiles at northern Israel from Lebanon. According to the Times of Israel, no injuries were reported and some enemy projectiles were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome air-defense system.
Israel has eliminated most members of Hezbollah’s military chain of command in recent weeks, according to a graphic posted by the IDF on X. Ali Karaki, the commander of the terrorist organization’s Southern Front, was also killed in the targeted airstrike on Friday.
The underground headquarters, in which Nasrallah and others died, was located in the southern suburbs of Beirut. There Hezbollah had a stronghold, known as the Daniyeh.
The Israeli military also targeted dozens of anti-ship missiles that were stored in several buildings in the Daniyeh. The IDF urged Lebanese citizens near those sites to evacuate immediately and distance themselves at least 500 meters from the targets. At least six warehouses storing the coast-to-sea missiles were destroyed, according to the military.
After the latest assassination of top Hezbollah leaders, IDF chief of staff Herzi Halevi warned that Israel would be able to reach anyone who threatened it and its citizens. Hezbollah started firing rockets at Israel on October 8, the day after Hamas massacred 1,200 people and abducted 251 hostages in southern Israel.
“This is not the end of the tools in the toolbox. The message is simple, to anyone who threatens the citizens of the State of Israel, we will know how to get to them,” Halevi said.
Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been relocated to a secure location with strengthened security measures in the wake of Nasrallah’s death, according to news reports.
Tensions between Israel and Lebanon have spilled over recently, as the IDF is believed to be responsible for remotely detonating Hezbollah’s pagers and walkie-talkies last week. The explosions have since led both sides to trade rocket fire with each other.
The U.S. and other allies are concerned that the increased hostilities could lead to an all-out war between Israel and Lebanon amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza. Israeli troops are lining themselves along the northern Israel-Lebanon border in preparation for a possible ground invasion that Halevi teased on Wednesday.
To prevent further escalation, the U.S. and France called on Israel and Lebanon to accept an immediate cease-fire lasting 21 days to facilitate diplomatic efforts. Israel rejected the latest proposal, refusing to relent in its fighting with Hezbollah.
Nasrallah has been an enemy of Israel since at least 1982 when he joined Hezbollah, which was formed to fight Israel’s second invasion of southern Lebanon at the time. He became secretary general of Hezbollah in 1992 at the age of 35, serving in that position until his death.