The Lebanese group Hezbollah has confirmed the death of Hassan Nasrallah, its longtime chief, in an air strike on the group’s underground headquarters close to the capital, Beirut.
Hours after Israel claimed killing the 64-year-old Nasrallah, the Iran-backed Hezbollah on Saturday mentioned its chief “has joined his fellow martyrs” and pledged it could “proceed the holy struggle in opposition to the enemy and in assist of Palestine” amid fears {that a} regional struggle is now inevitable.
Israel carried out a big strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs on Friday night, which it mentioned focused the Hezbollah chief, flattening at the very least six residential buildings.
Nasrallah, who led Hezbollah for greater than three a long time, is by far probably the most highly effective goal to be killed by Israel in weeks of intensified preventing with Hezbollah. In accordance with the United Nations, greater than 50,000 individuals have fled Lebanon for Syria, as Israel’s attacks on Lebanon have killed at the very least 700 individuals since Monday.
Israeli jets pounded south Beirut and its outskirts all through the night time into Saturday, in probably the most intense assaults on the Hezbollah stronghold because the group and Israel final went to struggle in 2006.
Nasrallah had not often been seen in public since 2006. He was elected secretary-general of Hezbollah in 1992, aged 32, after an Israeli helicopter gunship killed his predecessor, Abbas al-Musawi.
Hezbollah
The Lebanese group confirmed in a press release its chief had been killed “following the treacherous Zionist strike on the southern suburbs” of Beirut.
The group’s assertion mentioned Nasrallah had “joined his nice and immortal martyred comrades, whose path he led for almost 30 years, throughout which he led them from victory to victory”.
The group mentioned it pledged “to the best, most sacred and most valuable martyr in our journey” to “proceed its jihad in confronting the enemy, in assist of Gaza and Palestine, and in defence of Lebanon and its steadfast and honourable individuals”.
Hamas
Hamas has condemned the killing of the Lebanese chief as “cowardly, terrorist act”.
“We condemn within the strongest phrases this barbaric Zionist aggression and focusing on of residential buildings,” the group mentioned in a press release, accusing Israel of disregarding “all worldwide values, customs and charters” and “blatantly threaten[ing] worldwide safety and peace, in gentle of silence, helplessness and worldwide neglect”.
“Within the face of this Zionist crime and bloodbath, we renew our absolute solidarity and stand united with the brothers in Hezbollah and the Islamic resistance in Lebanon,” the group mentioned.
Fatah
The Palestinian Fatah motion additionally supplied condolences and condemned the assassination, emphasising “the historic relationship between the Lebanese individuals and their resistance and Palestine”.
Iran
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian issued a press release saying Nasrallah’s killing “will solely additional strengthen the resistance”. He added the US can not deny complicity in Nasrallah’s killing.
The nation’s overseas ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani mentioned in a put up on X that “the wonderful path of the Resistance chief … will proceed and his sacred purpose of liberating Jerusalem can be achieved.”
Iranian Vice President Mohammad Javad Zarif additionally expressed his condolences, praising Nasrallah as a “image of the struggle in opposition to oppression”.
Earlier, Iran’s Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei condemned what he known as Israel’s “short-sighted” coverage within the area.
“The bloodbath of the defenceless individuals in Lebanon as soon as once more… proved the short-sighted and silly coverage of the leaders of the usurping regime,” Khamenei mentioned in a press release earlier than Hezbollah formally introduced its chief’s dying.
Iraq
Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani condemned the assault as “shameful” and “against the law that reveals the Zionist entity has crossed all of the crimson strains”.
In a press release, Sudani known as Nasrallah “a martyr on the trail of the righteous”, and declared a three-day mourning interval.
It got here shortly after influential Iraqi Shia Muslim chief Muqtada al-Sadr additionally introduced three days of mourning. The chief of the Sadrist motion in Iraq wrote on X: “Farewell to the companion of the trail of resistance and defiance.”
Turkey
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned Israel’s current assaults in Lebanon as a part of what he known as an Israeli coverage of “genocide, occupation, and invasion”, urging the UN Safety Council and different our bodies to cease Israel.
In a put up on X, Erdogan, with out naming Nasrallah, mentioned Turkey stood with the Lebanese individuals and its authorities, providing his condolences for these killed within the Israeli strikes, whereas saying the Muslim world ought to present a extra “decided” stance.
France
The French Ministry for Europe and International Affairs mentioned in a press release that it’s in touch with the Lebanese authorities and France’s companions within the area to stop destabilisation and conflagration.
Jean-Luc Melenchon, a left-wing French politician and former Member of the European Parliament, mentioned the assassination “is another step in direction of the invasion of Lebanon and common struggle”.
In a put up on X, he mentioned: “France now not counts on the bottom. Netanyahu’s crimes will proceed since they’re unpunished. The hazard is excessive for the area and the world.”
Russia
Russia’s overseas ministry has launched a press release the place it strongly condemns Israel’s killing of Nasrallah and calls on Israel to cease hostilities in Lebanon.
“This forceful motion is fraught with even better dramatic penalties for Lebanon and the whole Center East,” the assertion mentioned.