On Saturday, the Israeli army announced the “liquidation” of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a recent airstrike targeting the southern suburbs of Beirut. Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee issued a statement on X, claiming that Nasrallah was killed during an operation aimed at Hezbollah’s central command, which is believed to be situated beneath a residential building in the area.
Adraee stated that the airstrike was executed based on “precise intelligence from the military’s intelligence agency,” focusing on a site where Hezbollah’s leadership was allegedly coordinating attacks against Israel. He further revealed that the operation also resulted in the deaths of Ali Karki, leader of Hezbollah’s southern front, along with several other commanders from the group.
In a separate report, the daily Yedioth Ahronoth detailed that the airstrike involved the deployment of over 80 tons of bombs, including bunker-busting munitions, aimed at destroying Hezbollah’s command bunker, which reportedly housed Nasrallah.
The Israeli military offensive has intensified in Lebanon since early Monday, with strikes that have reportedly killed over 700 individuals and injured nearly 2,200, according to figures provided by the Lebanese Health Ministry. The ministry has stated that the total death toll in Lebanon since last October has reached 1,540, alongside more than 77,000 individuals displaced from southern and eastern regions of the country.
The ongoing conflict between Hezbollah and Israel has escalated amid Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip, which have resulted in the deaths of more than 41,500 people, predominantly women and children, following a cross-border assault by Hamas on October 7. The international community has raised alarms about the potential for the conflict in Gaza to spill over into a wider regional war due to the ongoing strikes on Lebanon.