Israel said Saturday that it killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut’s southern suburbs, dealing its most significant blow to the Lebanese group after months of fighting. There was no immediate confirmation from Hezbollah.
Nasrallah becomes the latest, and by far the most powerful, target to be killed by Israel in weeks of intensified fighting with Hezbollah. The army said that several top Hezbollah commanders were killed along with Nasrallah in a powerful airstrike Friday. The military said it carried out a precise airstrike while Hezbollah leadership met at their headquarters in Dahiyeh, south of Beirut.
Israel’s Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, said Saturday that the elimination of Nasrallah was “not the end of our toolbox.” He said that the strike targeting Hezbollah’s leadership was the result of a long period of preparation.
The message is simple, anyone who threatens the citizens of Israel - we will know how to reach them," Halevi added.
Ali Karki, the Commander of Hezbollah’s Southern Front, and additional Hezbollah commanders, were also killed in the attack, the Israeli military said. The Lebanese Health Ministry said six people were killed and 91 injured in the strikes Friday, which leveled six apartment buildings.
"We hope this will change Hezbollah's actions," Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesperson, said in a media briefing after the military confirmed it had killed Nasrallah.
But he said there was still a way to go in degrading Hezbollah's capabilities.
"We've seen Hezbollah carry out attacks against us for a year. It's safe to assume that they are going to continue carrying out their attacks against us or try to," he added.
The Israeli military said it was mobilizing additional reserve soldiers, activating three battalions of reserve soldiers after sending two brigades to northern Israel along Lebanon’s border earlier in the week to train for a possible ground invasion.
At least 720 people have been killed in Lebanon over the past week from Israeli airstrikes, according to the Health Ministry.
