Beirut. The Lebanese group Hezbollah confirmed this Saturday that its leader and one of its founders, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut the previous day.
A statement said Nasrallah “has joined his fellow martyrs.” Hezbollah vowed to “continue the holy war against the enemy and in support of Palestine.”
Nasrallah, who led Hezbollah for more than three decades, is by far the most powerful target Israel has killed in weeks of intensifying fighting with Hezbollah. The Israeli military said it carried out a precise airstrike on Friday as Hezbollah leaders met at their headquarters in Dahiyeh, south of Beirut.
The Lebanese Health Ministry reported that six people were killed and 91 wounded in the attacks, which destroyed six apartment buildings. Ali Karki, commander of Hezbollah’s Southern Front, and other commanders were also killed, the Israeli military said.
Israeli paramilitary leader also killed
Iran announced this Saturday that a prominent general of its US-sanctioned paramilitary revolutionary guard was killed in the same airstrike. Abbas Nilforushan, 58, whom the United States identified as the Guard’s deputy commander of operations, died Friday, Iran’s state news agency reported. IRNA.
Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an army spokesman, said the airstrike was based on years of tracking Nasrallah along with “real-time information” that made it viable. He declined to say what munitions were used in the attack or provide an estimate of civilian deaths, saying only that Israel takes measures to avoid civilians whenever possible and authorizes attacks in advance with legal and intelligence experts.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas issued its condolences to its ally, Hezbollah, in a statement. Nasrallah frequently described rocket fire into northern Israel as a “support front” for Hamas and the Palestinians in Gaza.
“History has shown that the resistance (…) when its leaders die as martyrs, they will be succeeded on the same path by a generation of leaders who are braver, stronger and more determined to continue the confrontation,” the statement said. of Hamas.
He added that “the killings will only increase the resistance in Lebanon and Palestine in determination and resolve.”
Immediately after Hezbollah’s official confirmation, people began shooting in the air in Beirut and other areas of the country, to mourn Nasrallah’s death. Some were protesting that he had been killed for his support of the war in Gaza. “I wish they were our children, not you, Sayyid!” said one woman, using an honorific for Nasrallah, as she held her baby in the western city of Baabda.
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– 2024-10-06 03:46:56
