The Israeli military said on Saturday it had killed Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike on the group’s central headquarters in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah has yet to issue any statement on the status of Nasrallah, who has led the group for 32 years.
During Nasrallah’s decades in charge, Hezbollah has grown into a regional force that has projected Tehran’s influence across the Middle East.
His death would not only mark an enormous blow to Hezbollah, but also to Iran, whose Revolutionary Guards founded the group in 1982.
The Israeli military “eliminated … Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Hezbollah terrorist organization”, Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee wrote in a statement on X.
Another top Hezbollah leader – Ali Karaki – was also killed, he added.
“Hassan Nasrallah will no longer be able to terrorize the world,” the Israeli military said in a separate post.
Friday’s attack on Hezbollah’s command centre, followed by further airstrikes on Saturday, have escalated the conflict between Israel and the heavily armed group, adding to concerns the region could be sucked into a broader war.
The military said that it carried out a precise airstrike while Hezbollah leadership met at their headquarters in Dahiyeh, south of Beirut.
Under the leadership of the 64-year-old Nasrallah, Hezbollah has fought wars against Israel and taken part in the conflict in neighbouring Syria, helping tip the balance of power in favor of president Bashar Assad.
A charismatic and shrewd strategist, Nasrallah reshaped Hezbollah into an archenemy of Israel, cementing alliances with Shiite religious leaders in Iran and Palestinian militant groups such as Hamas.
Idolized by his Lebanese Shiite followers and respected by millions of others across the Arab and Islamic world, Nasrallah holds the title of sayyid, an honorific meant to signify the Shiite cleric’s lineage dating back to the Prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam.
A fiery orator viewed as an extremist in the US and much of the West, he is also considered a pragmatist compared to the firebrand militants who dominated Hezbollah after its founding in 1982, during Lebanon’s civil war.
Despite the power he wields, Nasrallah has lived largely in hiding in the past years for fear of an Israeli assassination.
