Hezbollah confirmed that Israeli forces killed its leader Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike in Beirut.
The statement said: “The Israel Defense Forces, under the close intelligence guidance of the intelligence agencies and the Ministry of Defense, will continue to harm those who promote and carry out terrorism against the Israeli people.”
Emerging from the long Lebanese civil war, Hezbollah is both a Shiite Islamic political party and a militant organization. It is anti-Israel and has good relations with Iran, from which it regularly receives weapons.
She has supported Hamas since the conflict between Israel and Palestine began on October 7.
The group’s military power grew throughout the 2000s, and in 2021 its leader, Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, said he had 100,000 fighters.
Now there are fears that Nasrallah’s death could trigger a “violent” reaction from Iran, one of Hezbollah’s biggest backers.
“The gates of hell are open at this very moment,” Dr. Abed El Kadir Kananeh told Mail.
Nasrallah is an elusive Hezbollah leader who has not been seen in public for years due to fears of assassination attempts.
He has personal ties to Iran and helped militarize Hezbollah by training members of Hamas and militias in Yemen and Iraq.
Nasrallah was born in Beirut in 1960 and joined the Shiite Amal militia during the Lebanese civil war in 1975.
The group eventually became Hezbollah and in a 1985 letter called for the “annihilation” of Israel.
Nasrallah became Hezbollah’s leader in 1992 after the previous leader was killed in a helicopter attack.
What are the latest developments?
There have been daily clashes between Hezbollah and Israeli forces since the October 7 attacks, leaving hundreds dead on both sides of the border and displacing many more.
Further attacks were carried out in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon.
Hours before the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke at the United Nations and vowed that his country’s operations against Hezbollah would continue, further fading hopes of an internationally backed ceasefire.
Netanyahu abruptly ended a visit to the United States and returned to Israel.
Nasrallah has been living underground for years and rarely appears in public. He gives regular speeches, but always by video from an unknown location.
More than 720 people have been killed in Lebanon since fighting escalated on Monday, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
The United Nations says the number of people displaced from southern Lebanon due to fighting has more than doubled. More than 211,000 people have been affected.
