Israeli Military Kills Hezbollah Leader, Hassan Nasrallah In Beirut Air Strikes

Israel’s military has announced that Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Hezbollah group, has been killed in an airstrike in Beirut.

In a statement released on Saturday morning, September 28, the Israel Defense Force (IDF) announced that their fighter jets, operating based on precise intelligence, struck Hezbollah’s central headquarters located underground beneath a residential building in the Dahieh area of Beirut.

The statement said, “The IDF will continue to harm anyone who promotes and engages in terrorism against the citizens of the State of Israel.

‘Fighter jets of the Air Force under the precise intelligence guidance of the intelligence wing and the defense system, attacked the central headquarters of Hezbollah, which is located underground, under a residential building in the Daha area of Beirut.”

“Hassan Nasrallah is dead,” military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani announced on X.

Military spokesman Captain David Avraham also confirmed to AFP that the Hezbollah chief had been “eliminated” following strikes Friday on the Lebanese capital.

Hezbollah later confirmed Nasrallah’s death, stating that he had “joined his great, immortal martyr comrades whom he led for about 30 years,” after being killed along with other group members in what they called a “treacherous Zionist strike” in southern Beirut.

In response to the news, chaos erupted in Beirut, with AFP reporters observing a passerby crying out, “Oh my God,” and women mourning in the streets.

Gunfire was also heard as a way to honor Nasrallah, who was a revered figure among his supporters. One woman, dressed in black, shouted, “Don’t believe them, they’re lying, Sayyed is well,” referring to Nasrallah.

Israeli jets carried out extensive bombardments in southern Beirut and its outskirts overnight into Saturday, marking the most intense assault on Hezbollah’s stronghold since the last conflict between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006.

Hezbollah is both a Shiite Muslim political party and a militant organization that opposes Israel and receives funding from Iran, which is Israel’s primary adversary. Since the outbreak of conflict between Israel and Palestine on October 7, Hezbollah has supported Hamas.

Hassan Nasrallah had largely stayed out of the public eye since 2006 due to concerns for his safety. He became the secretary general of Hezbollah in 1992 at the age of 32, following the assassination of his predecessor, Abbas al-Musawi, in an Israeli helicopter strike.

Born in 1960 in Beirut, Nasrallah joined the Amal movement, a Shiite militia, during the Lebanese Civil War that began in 1975. He took leadership of Hezbollah in 1992 after the former leader’s assassination.

This comes two months after top Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh was killed in an Israeli attack in Iran.