LONDON — The Israeli Defense Forces have announced that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has been killed after airstrikes in Beirut, officials said.
“The IDF announces that yesterday (Friday), September 27th, 2024, Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Hezbollah terrorist organization and one of its founders, was eliminated by the IDF, together with Ali Karki, the Commander of Hezbollah’s Southern Front, and additional Hezbollah commanders,” the IDF said in a statement issued on Saturday morning.
Following “precise intelligence from the IDF and Israeli security establishment,” the IDF said that IAF fighter jets conducted a targeted strike on the Central Headquarters, located underground embedded under a residential building in the area of Dahieh in Beirut.
“The strike was conducted while Hezbollah’s senior chain of command were operating from the headquarters and advancing terrorist activities against the citizens of the State of Israel,” the IDF said.
The head of Lebanon’s militant Shiite Muslim movement Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah speaks on July 25, 2014, during a rare public appearance at a gathering to mark the “Al-Quds (Jerusalem) International Day” from Beirut’s southern suburbs. A source close to Lebanon’s Hezbollah group said on September 28 that contact had been lost since last evening with chief Hassan Nasrallah, after Israel said it had “eliminated” him in a strike on the group’s southern Beirut bastion
Anwar Amro/AFP via Getty Images
“During Hassan Nastallah’s 32-year reign as the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, he was responsible for the murder of many Israeli civilians and soldiers, and the planning and execution of thousands of terrorist activities,” the IDF statement read. “He was responsible for directing and executing terrorist attacks around the world in which civilians of various nationalities were murdered. Nasrallah was the central decision-maker and the strategic leader of the organization.”
“The Hezbollah terrorist organization, headed by Hassan Nasrallah, joined the Hamas terrorist organization in its war against the State of Israel on October 8th,” the IDF said. “Since then, Hezbollah has been continuing its ongoing and unprovoked attacks on the citizens of the State of Israel, dragging the State of Lebanon and the entire region into a wider escalation.”
The IDF said that they will continue to operate “against anyone who promotes and engages in terrorism against the State of Israel and its people.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.