Hezbollah leader dies from Israeli airstrikes
Dwayne Pelagio
Hezbollah confirmed on Sept. 28 that Hezbollah their leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed by Israeli airstrikes in the group’s alleged headquarters in Beirut, Lebanon.
Photo Courtesy of Abaca Press/MIRA Safety. |
The militant group said in a statement that Nasrallah was a “sacred martyr,” and will continue the fight to confront the enemy, in support of Gaza and Palestine, and in defense of Lebanon and its dearest people.
Hezbollah-owned Al-Manar TV Channel switched to Quranic recitations for mourning.
Hamas also released a statement mourning Nasrallah, holding Israel responsible for its “heinous crime and its dangerous repercussions” to regional stability.
The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) announced in X (formerly Twitter) that the Hezbollah leader has been killed and “will no longer be able to terrorize the world.”
The IDF also said in their post that Israeli fighter jets targeted the headquarters of the militant group in the capital’s southern suburbs, also known as Dahiyeh.
Nasrallah has been the group’s leader for 32 years and turned the group into the most-armed non-state group in the region - with members spreading throughout Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen.
Israel launched an intensive aerial campaign across southern and eastern Lebanon, in what has been called as the “deadliest day in Lebanon” after two decades.
700 people have been killed in Lebanon following Israeli strikes, with a thousand more injured, and 120,000 displaced, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs’ (OCHA) statement on Friday.
\Iran, Hezbollah’s ally, also announced on Saturday, that it will start sending troops to Lebanon while Iraq announces three days for mourning.
In retaliation to the death of their leader, Hezbollah fired a barrage of missiles across the Israeli border.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken urges Israel to accept a 21-day cease-fire proposal following the attack.
On October 8, 2023, Hezbollah fired guiding missiles and artillery shells at Israeli positions in Shebaa farms as part of a military operation with Palestinians following the Hamas attack on Israel that took place a day earlier.
This attack caused a conflict that displaced 96,000 individuals from their homes in Northern Israel while 500,000 individuals were displaced in Lebanon with Hezbollah stating that it would not stop attacking Israel unless the Jewish state halts military operations in Gaza first.