Hezbollah has confirmed the death of its leader, who helped build the Iran-backed group into one of the most powerful military and political forces in the region.
By Mirna Alsharif and Chantal Da Silva
Israel announced Saturday that its forces have killed Hassan Nasrallah, the powerful leader of the Lebanese militant and political group Hezbollah, in what would mark a major escalation amid mounting hostilities at its northern border with Lebanon.
An Israeli official said Friday that Israeli forces had targeted Nasrallah, who has led the Iran-backed militant group for the past three decades, in a large-scale attack on a suburb of southern Beirut.
“Hassan Nasrallah will no longer be able to terrorize the world,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a post on X.
Hezbollah confirmed in a statement Saturday that Nasrallah, 64, had been killed.
An Iranian woman holds a poster of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah with text in Arabic reading, “At your service Nasrallah,” during an anti-Israeli rally in Tehran, Iran, on Friday.Vahid Salemi / AP
Under Nasrallah’s leadership, Hezbollah became the most powerful Iran-backed paramilitary group in the Middle East, with an arsenal of ballistic missiles trained on Israel, as well as a potent political player in Lebanon. The disciplined force has also trained other Iran proxies in the region and fought in Syria to quell forces trying to oust the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
He called for the “liberation” of Jerusalem, referring to Israel as the “Zionist entity” and lauded Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel as a “heroic, great, and grand operation.”
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