Israel announces death of Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut offensive
Israel has announced the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah after shelling the Lebanese extremist group's positions in Beirut over the past few hours.
The Israeli army launched strikes Friday night into Saturday on Hezbollah's headquarters in the Dahiyeh suburb of the Lebanese capital Beirut. The headquarters is located underneath residential buildings, as confirmed by the IDF.
We searched up “dismantled” on the internet, this is the picture that came up: pic.twitter.com/C5p3jmhwIZ
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) September 28, 2024
According to the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), the leader of the group considered to be a terrorist group, Hassan Nasrallah, was eliminated during this offensive.
Israeli military spokesman David Avraham confirmed that the leader of the armed organisation was neutralised following attacks on its strongholds in the Lebanese capital on Friday. ‘Hassan Nasrallah is dead,’ Israeli military spokesman for the international press Nadav Shoshani said on the Telegram social network.
Nasrallah was killed along with Ali Karki, commander of Hezbollah's Southern Front, and other senior commanders of the organisation. The strike was carried out after a thorough operation based on intelligence provided by the IDF and Israeli security agencies.
The strike was executed by Israeli Air Force fighter jets, which launched a precision bombing raid on Hezbollah's headquarters.
Many buildings were destroyed in the Israeli strikes and the effects of the devastation were clearly visible in daylight on Saturday morning. Hundreds of families fled urgently overnight due to the attacks, after the Israel Defence Forces issued warnings to residents of some neighbourhoods in the suburb to leave the area.
On Saturday, the Israeli army continued to launch intense raids in the suburb, considered a Hezbollah stronghold, after the violent attack aimed at eliminating the organisation's leader Hassan Nasrallah, as confirmed by Israeli media.
A source close to Hezbollah told Agence France Presse that Nasrallah was ‘fine’, although the Israeli army confirmed the death of the leader of the pro-Iranian Lebanese extremist group.
The Israeli army ‘carried out a precision bombardment against the headquarters of the Hezbollah terrorist organisation,’ Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a televised statement. ‘Hezbollah's headquarters was intentionally built under residential buildings in the heart of Dahiyeh in Beirut as part of Hezbollah's strategy of using Lebanese as human shields,’ Daniel Hagari said.
Hezbollah's Al-Manar television said up to four buildings were reduced to rubble by the blast, which was so powerful that it shook windows and houses some 30 kilometres north of Beirut.
The attacks came after Benjamin Netanyahu warned before the United Nations General Assembly that there would be no let-up in attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon, in a clash against the group, considered terrorist by several countries, stemming from the Gaza war, which has seen clashes fester between the Israeli state and extremist groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza itself.
Netanyahu came to the UN to defend Israel's position in the face of accusations from various countries over recent wars in the Middle East, which have been waged on a massive scale following the horrific Hamas terror attack on Israeli territory on 7 October 2023, which left around 1,200 people dead and up to 250 kidnapped. ‘After listening to the lies and slander poured out against my country by many of the speakers on this podium, I decided to come here and set the record straight,’ Netanyahu said.
Following the Hamas terror attacks on 7 October, Israel launched a military offensive against the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, which is still ongoing and has already left tens of thousands dead. This military incursion was met with rebukes from Arab countries and the Islamic Republic of Iran, Israel's bitter enemy, as well as attacks by Hamas and other like-minded pro-Iranian groups such as Hezbollah, which have been vocal in their defence of the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank.
Regarding the current offensive on Lebanon, which has already left more than 700 dead in a week, Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will continue its attacks in Lebanon until ‘all’ targets are hit.
The Israeli army also confirmed that it is ‘currently bombing targets of the Hezbollah terrorist organisation in the Bekaa region’ in eastern Lebanon.
In addition, the IDF also officially announced that there were interventions to search for weapons depots, ammunition factories and Hizbollah leadership centres in the recently targeted area. In a brief statement, the pro-Iranian Lebanese extremist group denied Israel's ‘accusations’ about the presence of weapons caches in residential buildings.
The military operation against Hamas and Hezbollah, which most recently saw the death of former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, eliminated while in Iran for the inauguration of new Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian, and other Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, continues. Now Hezbollah's top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has also fallen.
