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WASHINGTON − Hassan Nasrallah, the revered and reviled longtime leader of Hezbollah, was killed Friday in an Israeli airstrike, the Israeli Defense Forces said.
Nasrallah, “the leader of the Hezbollah terrorist organization and one of its founders, was eliminated by the IDF,” the Israeli military said in a statement Saturday.
“Following precise intelligence,” the statement said, fighter jets “conducted a targeted strike on the Central Headquarters of the Hezbollah terrorist organization, which was located underground embedded under a residential building in the area of Dahieh in Beirut.”
Hezbollah confirmed Nasrallah’s death, saying it would continue its battle against Israel “in support of Gaza and Palestine, and in defence of Lebanon and its steadfast and honorable people.”
An underground meeting, and a massive crater
The decapitation attack on Israel’s strongest neighboring foe was a political earthquake for the region, threatening an armed response against Israeli and U.S. targets from Iran and its proxies in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen.
“It’s huge,” said Mohamad Bazzi, director of the Kevorkian Center for Near East Studies at New York University. “It’s a tremendous blow to Hezbollah. It’s a blow to Iran.”
Nasrallah was among the most important leaders in the Middle East, commanding tens of thousands of fighters and armed with missiles supplied by the Shia Islamist movement’s patron, Iran. Hezbollah governs southern Lebanon and its nearly 1 million residents independent of the weak Lebanese government.
“The strike was conducted while Hezbollah’s senior chain of command were operating from the headquarters and advancing terrorist activities against the citizens of the State of Israel,” the Israeli statement said.
Friday’s airstrike on Dahiyeh shook Beirut. A security source in Lebanon told Reuters the attack − a quick succession of massively powerful blasts − had left a crater more than 20 yards deep. It was unclear how many people were killed.
It was followed on Saturday by further airstrikes on Dahiyeh and other parts of Lebanon. Huge explosions lit up the night sky, and more strikes hit the area Saturday morning. Smoke rose over the city.
The death of the militant movement’s longtime leader came after a week of Israeli attacks that Tel Aviv said were meant to neuter Hezbollah’s military capabilities and allow 60,000 residents of northern Israel to return to homes evacuated due to months of rocket fire from over the Lebanon border.
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Hezbollah has been firing rockets into Israel since the Oct. 7 Hamas rampage in southern Israel and Israel’s ongoing invasion of the coastal enclave.
More than 1,500 people have been killed in Lebanon in the last week, and more than 90,000 displaced, on top of 100,000 forced to flee since October.
A key figure in the ‘Axis of resistance’
Among supporters, Nasrallah has been lauded for standing up to Israel and defying the United States. To enemies, he was head of a terrorist organization and a proxy for Iran’s Shia Islamist theocracy in its tussle for influence in the Middle East.
“No doubt, he is a particularly important figure,” Bazzi told USA TODAY. “He’s very charismatic, an excellent orator.”
Still, Bazzi said, “His star has fallen in the Middle East since Hezbollah’s involvement in the Syrian civil war,” when Hezbollah fighters were key to the survival of Bashar al Assad’s brutal government.
Nasrallah’s regional influence has been on display over nearly a year of conflict ignited by the Gaza war, as Hezbollah entered the fray by firing on Israel from southern Lebanon in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas, and Yemeni and Iraqi groups followed suit, operating under the umbrella of an Iran-led “Axis of Resistance.”
