Hassan Nasrallah, the elusive chief of Lebanon’s terror outfit Hezbollah, was killed in a massive airstrike in Lebanon’s Beirut in an operation by Israel named “New Order”. Hezbollah also confirmed the death of Nasrallah, who took over as the outfit’s chief in 1992 when he was just 32.
The Israeli military said Air Force jets carried out a precise airstrike while the Hezbollah leadership met at their headquarters in Dahiyeh, south of Beirut. “Hassan Nasrallah will no longer be able to terrorise the world,” the IDF tweeted.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah brazened it out, saying it would continue its battle against Israel in support of Gaza and Palestine.
The development comes amid a string of assassinations of Israel’s adversaries in recent months. Hamas’s political wing chief Ismail Haniyeh and top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr were eliminated in July.
The Israeli military said Ali Karki, the commander of Hezbollah’s Southern Front, and additional commanders were also eliminated in Friday’s strike. Nasrallah’s daughter, Zainab Nasrallah, was also killed in the bombardment that flattened several buildings and displaced thousands of Lebanese.
Announcing Nasrallah’s death, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. General Herzi Halevi said Israel would reach anyone who threatened the country and its citizens. “This is not the end of the toolbox. The message is simple to anyone who threatens the citizens of Israel. We will know how to get to them,” he said.
Israeli media reported that more than 80 bombs were dropped on Hezbollah’s headquarters. One bomb contained an average of one tonne of explosives.
The Lebanese Health Ministry said six people were killed and 91 injured in the airstrikes on Friday. However, the death toll is expected to rise.
READ | Hassan Nasrallah: Vegetable vendor’s son who became Israel’s mortal enemy
WHO WAS HASSAN NASRALLAH?
Nasrallah, who led Hezbollah for more than three decades with significant backing by Iran, has not been seen in public for years amid fears of being assassinated by Israel.
A vegetable vendor’s son, Nasrallah’s leadership saw Hezbollah evolving from a militia founded to fight Israeli troops occupying Lebanon into a force stronger than the Lebanese army. Born in 1960 in Beirut’s eastern Bourj Hammoud, he was the eldest of nine children.
Nasrallah joined a Shia militia named the Amal movement in 1975. Seven years later, he and other members split from the group and formed another organisation named Islamic Amal. The move came shortly after Israel invaded Lebanon following attacks by Palestinian militants in 1982.
The new outfit, which later formed Hezbollah, received considerable military and organisational support from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. In a short span, Hezbollah emerged as the most prominent Shia militia.
Hezbollah officially announced its establishment in 1985 and published an open letter, calling for the “obliteration” of Israel, which it said was occupying Muslim lands, the BBC reported.
After Hezbollah chief Abbas al-Musawi was killed in an Israeli helicopter strike in 1992, Nasrallah took over the outfit at a young age of 32.
He announced his succession by ordering rocket strikes into northern Israel and attacks on Israeli embassies in Turkey and Buenos Aires, Argentina. The attack in Argentina killed 29 people.
The airstrikes on Friday were not the first time that Nasrallah was targeted. In 2006, after a period of uneasy calm, Hezbollah launched a cross-border offensive in which eight Israeli soldiers were killed.
Israel responded by bombing Hezbollah strongholds in the south. Nasrallah’s home and offices were also targeted, but he survived unscathed. Since then, he has rarely been seen in public and has held meetings in underground bunkers.
