Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah was killed in a strike on Beirut, the Israeli military said today. A source close to Hezbollah told news agency AFP that communication with the 64-year-old Nasrallah was lost since Friday night.
“Hassan Nasrallah is dead,” military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani announced on X.
The Israeli strikes targeted dozens of Hezbollah sites in eastern and southern Lebanon following intense rocket fire by the group into northern Israel. Israeli jets bombarded Hezbollah strongholds in southern Beirut overnight, flattening several residential buildings.
“Hassan Nasrallah will no longer be able to terrorise the world,” the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said in a statement.
This wave of retaliatory strikes occurred just hours after Hezbollah claimed responsibility for launching rockets into northern Israel. One such attack targeted the kibbutz Kabri using Fadi-1 rockets, which Hezbollah stated was in defence of Lebanon against Israeli “barbaric” aggression.
Nasrallah, who holds immense power in Lebanon, particularly among his Shiite supporters, is widely seen as the only figure capable of waging war or brokering peace.
The 64-year-old’s daughter Zainab was killed in one of the airstrikes targeting Hezbollah strongholds in southern Beirut, Israel’s Channel 12 reported, however, there has been no confirmation from Hezbollah or Lebanese media.
Nasrallah was rumoured to have been killed in 2006 following Israel’s invasion of Lebanon. However, the Shiite leader reemerged days later unhurt. The Israeli strikes also killed Ali Karake, commander of Hezbollah’s southern front, and other Hezbollah members.