Middle East: Israel says Hezbollah's Nasrallah 'eliminated'

The reported death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is a "natural progression" in the conflict between the Iran-backed group and Israel, according to Makram Rabah, assistant professor of history at the American University of Beirut.

"They [Hezbollah] have failed to understand the world has changed," Rabah told DW. 

"I think this idea that Hezbollah cannot be destroyed is something that was defeated in the streets of Beirut," he said. 

Rabah said recent events had shown that the group is more vulnerable than some analysts have been saying, with many of its leaders dead or in hiding, meaning a lot of attacks by Hezbollah are "more or less individual initiatives."

He warned that Hezbollah's backers, Iran, remained the leading danger. 

"Hezbollah is only a manifestation of Iran, and if left alone, Iran can go back to being a spoiler in the region."

"If we do not address the elephant in the room, which is Iran, this will only be one episode in a series of other chapters that can only bring more deaths and destruction to the entire region as well as to the international community," he said. 

The Israeli military says it expects Hezbollah to continue its attacks on Israel despite reportedly losing its leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

"We hope this will change Hezbollah's actions," Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told reporters after the IDF said it had killed Nasrallah.

But, he said, "It's safe to assume that they are going to continue carrying out their attacks against us or try to." 

"So are we ready for a wider escalation? Yes. We've been in a wider escalation, a multi-front war, for a year. Our forces are on high alert, our intelligence is up and looking for these types of threats," he said.

Israel's chief of staff, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, said Israel, too, would continue its attacks on the Iran-backed militia even after Nasrallah's death.

Halevi said the killing of Nasrallah was "not the end of our toolbox."

"The message to all those who threaten the citizens of the state of Israel is simple: We will know how to reach them. In the north, in the south and in more distant places," he said. 

Hezbollah itself has yet to issue any statement on the status of Nasrallah.

 

Hassan Nasrallah, 64, whom Israel says was killed in an airstrike on Beirut on Friday, became the leader of Hezbollah in 1992 after its former head and co-founder, Abbas al-Musawi, was assassinated by Israel.

He had long been a member the group, which was formed to fight the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, and became its leader shortly after his return from a brief period of religious studies in Iran.

During his leadership, Hezbollah has been classed as a terrorist organization, either wholly or in part, by the United States and other countries, as well as by the European Union. 

Among other things, he is credited in the Arab world and Lebanon with having ended the 18-year Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon in 2000. This greatly bolstered the group's popularity in thr country.

Under his leadership, Hezbollah also brought about the 34-day Israel-Hezbollah War in 2006 after its militants carried out a cross-border raid into Israel, to which Israel responded with airstrikes and a ground invasion.

Fighting ceased with a UN-brokered cease-fire.

Nasrallah remained an implacable enemy to Israel. In 2000, he told the Washington Post: "I am against any reconciliation with Israel. I do not even recognize the presence of a state that is called 'Israel.' I consider its presence both unjust and unlawful."

The Israeli military has said Hassan Nasrallah, the head of the Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah militia, was killed in a "precise" airstrike during a meeting of the group's leadership at its headquarters in Dahiyeh, south of Beirut.  

A source close to Hezbollah told the AFP news agency that contact to Nasrallah had been lost since Friday night, when the strike took place, but the group has yet to confirm his death.

"Hassan Nasrallah is dead," Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani announced on X, formerly Twitter.

The 64-year-old Nasrallah, an Islamic cleric, led Hezbollah for more than three decades.

Israel's military says that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has been killed in a strike on Friday on the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

"Hassan Nasrallah will no longer be able to terrorize the world," the IDF wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

The report of Nasrallah's death has not yet been independently confirmed.

The Israeli military says it has mobilized three reserve battalions as hostilities between Israel and Lebanon escalate.

"In accordance with the situational assessment, the IDF is calling up three reserve battalions for operational activities and to strengthen the defense in the Central Command," the military said. It provided no further details.

The Central Command's areas of operation includes the occupied West Bank.

Earlier this week, the military sent two battalions to northern Israel to train for a possible ground offensive into Lebanon to combat that country's Iran-backed Hezbollah militia, which has been carrying out attacks on Israel that it says are in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

Israel for its part says it will keep fighting Hezbollah until its border with Lebanon is secured, and has carried out many strikes in the neigboring country, including some on Saturday in southern Beirut and east Lebanon's Bekaa Valley.

Israeli warplanes are striking targets in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, according to military spokesman Avichay Adraee.

In a social media post in Arabic he said the Israeli Defense Forces were striking "terror" targets belonging to Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, sirens sounded again in northern Israel.

Hezbollah militants targeted kibbutz Kabri in northern Israel "with a salvo of Fadi-1 rockets," the group said in a statement.

The Israel Defense Forces have detected some 10 rockets in the Upper Galilee area that crossed from Lebanon, it said on Saturday.

Some of the rockets were intercepted, the IDF said on X, formerly Twitter. Alerts were activated in the area.

The IDF did not say Hezbollah was behind the rockets' launch. However, it vowed to continue to "attack, damage and degrade" the group's military capabilities and infrastructure in Lebanon.

Following the alerts that were activated a short time ago in the Upper Galilee area, about ten launches were detected that crossed the territory of Lebanon, some of them were intercepted.

The British government has urged citizens to leave Lebanon immediately amid a sharp increase in hostilities.

"British nationals in Lebanon should leave now. You should take the next available flight. We are working to increase capacity and secure seats for British nationals to leave," The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said in a statement on social media platform X, formerly Twitter. 

The FCDO advised nationals to register their presence on the department’s website in order to stay up to date with any developments.

The move comes after UK Defence Secretary John Healey warned that air strikes and rocket fire exchanged between Israel and Hezbollah present a "risk that this escalates into something that is much wider and much more serious."

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had killed the commander of Hezbollah’s missile unit in southern Lebanon.

In a post on X, the IDF said that warplanes had killed Muhammad Ali Ismail along with his deputy Hossein Ahmed Ismail.

The IDF said that other Hezbollah commanders and members of the group "were eliminated."

The IDF said Muhammad Ali Ismail had been responsible for launching rockets toward Israel and had also launched surface-to-surface missiles targeting the central part of the country last Wednesday.

Hezbollah has not yet confirmed or denied Israel's announcement about the commanders.

The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has denied that any weapons or arms depots were located in the "residential buildings" targeted by Israel earlier on the same day.

Israel conducted back-to-back airstrikes on the densely populated neighborhood of Dahiyeh in the south of the Lebanese capital, Beirut. 

Announcing a new wave of airstrikes in the early hours of Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) repeated earlier claims that Hezbollah was storing weapons under residential buildings in the neighborhood.

Lebanon's official National News Agency reported 11 fresh Israeli strikes so far.

Israel's military continued waves of air strikes which it said were aimed atHezbollah targets in Lebanon throughout Friday night and into early Saturday.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it was striking Hezbollah targets in southern Beirut, in particular the densely populated suburb of Dahiyeh.

The strikes on the area come after Israel told residents to evacuate as they struck missile launchers and weapons storage sites the IDF claimed was situated beneath civilian housing.

Friday saw Israel target the headquarters of Hezbollah in a large strike, which reportedly targeted the militant group's leader Hassan Nasrallah. There is currently no confirmation as to the fate of Nasrallah.

Lebanese authorities said that at least six people have been killed and 91 injured in the strike, adding that the toll was not final.

Overnight, the IDF said it had killed the commander of Hezbollah’s missile unit in southern Lebanon, whom it held responsible for launching rockets toward Israel. His deputy was also killed, the IDF added.

Hezbollah has not yet confirmed or denied Israel's announcement about the commanders.

The attacks mark a sharp escalation in nearly a year of conflict. Hezbollah has been launching missiles at Israel since the Hamas-led terror attack on October 7th last year, saying it supports Hamas and the Palestinians in Gaza.

Israel has rejected international calls for 21-day cease-fire, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing to continue hitting Hezbollah during an address before the United Nations.

kb/rmt  (Reuters, AFP, AP, dpa)