what we know about the death of Hezbollah leader by an Israeli strike
It was on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. that Lebanese Hezbollah confirmed the death of its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, killed the day before in an Israeli strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut. “Sayed Hassan Nasrallah has joined his fellow martyrs (…) whose march he led for nearly thirty years,” announces a press release from the pro-Iranian group. The statement said the secretary general of the powerful group was killed along with other members of the group “during a treacherous Zionist raid on the southern suburbs of Beirut.”
As of Saturday morning, the spokesperson for the Israeli army, Lieutenant-Colonel Nadav Shoshani, indicated that the leader of Hezbollah was “dead”. But at the same time, a Source close to Hezbollah assured that its leader was “doing well”. At the end of the morning, another Source close to the pro-Iranian group acknowledged that contact had been “lost” with Hassan Nasrallah since Friday evening, without confirming his death.
In 2006, during the last war between Israel and Hezbollah, the leader of the movement disappeared for two days and there were rumors of his death, before reappearing.
Our direct on the conflict
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2Why is Nasrallah’s death a turning point?
Although Hassan Nasrallah lived in hiding and rarely appeared in public for years, the 64-year-old Hezbollah leader was considered the most powerful man in Lebanon. He was the subject of a veritable cult of personality within Lebanon’s Shiite community. His death today shakes his party, risks destabilizing the country and will be seen as a major victory for Israel against Iran and its allies in the region.
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3 What does this say about the Israeli army?
The Israeli army says the Hezbollah leader died in a series of “precise” strikes against Hezbollah’s “headquarters” in the southern suburbs of Beirut, carried out on Friday. Army spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the headquarters was “located beneath residential buildings in the heart of Dahiyeh,” the Arabic term for “suburb.” “This demonstrates not only enormous technological capabilities but also the extent to which Israel has infiltrated Hezbollah,” said James Dorsey, a researcher at the Middle East Institute at the National University of Singapore, who speaks of a “very sophisticated” system.
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4Why is Israel in conflict with Hezbollah?
Hezbollah was created in 1982 following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, at the initiative of the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological army of the Islamic Republic of Iran. After the Hamas attack in Israel on October 7 and the start of the war in Gaza, Hezbollah reactivated Israel’s northern front, in “support” of its Palestinian ally.
For months, Israel has considerably weakened the movement by “eliminating” its highest commanders one by one, including its military leader Fouad Chokr, killed in July during a strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut. Cross-border clashes in recent weeks have escalated into near-widespread conflict since Monday, with Israel launching a massive bombing campaign on Hezbollah strongholds in southern and eastern Lebanon as well as the southern suburbs of Beirut.
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