Hezbollah on Saturday confirmed the death of its leader Hassan Nasrallah, after Israel said he was killed in an airstrike on Beirut.
The terror group praised Nasrallah’s leadership and vowed to avenge his death as it continued its fight against Israel.
“The leadership of Hezbollah pledges to the most supreme, sacred, and dearest martyr in our journey, filled with sacrifices and martyrs, that it will continue its fight to confront the enemy, in support of Gaza and Palestine, and in defense of Lebanon and its steadfast and honorable people,” the statement read.
The Israel Defense Forces announced late Friday that Nasrallah, 64, was in a bunker beneath the group’s main headquarters when Israeli warplanes “leveled six buildings” in a targeted attack that also took out several other Hezbollah higher-ups.
Israel tracked Nasrallah for months, and was aware of his whereabouts for some time, three senior Israeli officials told the New York Times.
The IDF decided to move on the terror leader this week because they believed that only had a small window of opportunity to do so, the officials explained.
The IDF said it also neutralized Muhammad Ali Ismail — the commander of Hezbollah’s missile unit in southern Lebanon — as well as his deputy, Hussein Ahmad Ismail, and other “commanders and operatives” who attended the meeting.
On Saturday, Iranian media reported that Iran Revolutionary Guards’ deputy commander Abbas Nilforoushan was also killed in the Beirut strikes.
The Hezbollah headquarters in Beirut were a legitimate military target under international law, IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said.
“To our enemies, I say: we are strong and determined. To our partners, I would say: our war, is your war,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in a statement Saturday.
“And to the people of Lebanon, I say: our war is not with you. It’s time for change,” he added.
The terror group Hamas also responded to Nasrallah’s death on Saturday, saying that the killing would strengthen their resistance against Israel.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged the Muslim world to “stand by” Lebanon and Hezbollah.
This latest strike on Beirut came after Israel killed three senior Hezbollah military commanders earlier in the week. Those strikes reportedly killed over 700 soldiers and civilians.
Nasrallah was a founding member of the Iranian-backed militant group and served as its sole leader since 1992, when his predecessor and co-founder Abbas al-Musawi was also killed by an Israeli airstrike.
Israeli officials told The Post Nasrallah was at the center of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance.” His death is considered a major victory in their ongoing campaign against hostile regional forces in the aftermath of Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 assault on Israel.
The IDF posted a warning on its X account after the attack.
“Hezbollah has over 150,000 rockets, meant to kill Israeli civilians,” the text read. “Some are strategically placed beneath civilian populations.
“We have called on Lebanese civilians in specific buildings in the Dahiya neighborhood to move away from areas being used by Hezbollah.”
The targeting of Nasrallah Friday was followed by another series of bombings in Beirut early Saturday. The actions are widely considered a dangerous escalation of the ongoing war in the region.
The international community has expressed concern that these bombings in Lebanon would inevitably lead to an even wider war in the Middle East.
“Shockwaves radiating from the unprecedented death and destruction in Gaza now threaten to push the entire region into the abyss,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Gutierez told the Security Council Friday.
“War in Lebanon could lead to further escalation involving outside powers.”
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A defiant Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a fiery speech at the United Nations on Friday. Dozens of dignitaries walked out in protest as he spoke, leading Bibi to accuse the UN of being a “swamp of antisemitic bile.”
Netanyahu also turned his ire toward terror-backing Iran. “I have a message for the tyrants of Tehran: If you strike us, we will strike you.”
The bombing required a response from Khamenei, who called an emergency session of the nation’s Supreme National Security Council at his home on Friday, according to a report.
The bombs would drop in Beirut shortly after his speech, in which he again eschewed any talk of a cease-fire.
No word on who will take over as secretary-general of Hezbollah after the death of Nasrallah.
With Post wires
