Israel attacks Lebanon: Hezbollah confirms killing of leader Nasrallah
- Hezbollah has confirmed the killing of its leader Hassan Nasrallah in a massive air attack on a densely populated neighbourhood of Beirut on Friday evening that reduced several residential buildings to rubble.
- In a statement, the Lebanese group says it will continue to confront Israel in support of Gaza and in defence of Lebanon.
Gallant says Nasrallah assassination ‘one of the most important’ operations in Israeli history
Israel’s defence minister says the killing of Hezbollah’s leader is one of the most important “countermeasures” in Israel’s history, in comments carried by Israeli media.
“Whoever starts a war against Israel and tries to harm its citizens will pay a very heavy price. Even today, we are not stopping,” Gallant continued.
Israel’s attacks on Lebanon have exacted a heavy toll on the civilian population, with Lebanon’s Health Ministry saying at least 11 people were killed yesterday, adding to the more than 700 killed in attacks on the country since Monday.
Iran says Nasrallah’s path to continue
Iran’s foreign ministry says the path of Hezbollah’s chief Hassan Nasrallah will continue despite his killing in an Israeli air strike on Beirut yesterday.
“The glorious path of the leader of the resistance, Hassan Nasrallah, will continue and his sacred goal will be realised in the liberation of Quds [Jerusalem], God willing,” said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani on X mourning his death.
More from Iraqi PM
We have some more lines from Shia al-Sudani’s statement on the killing of Nasrallah, who he described as “a martyr on the path of the righteous”.
The Iraqi prime minister called the Israeli bombardment of southern Beirut on Friday a “shameful attack” and “a crime that shows the Zionist entity has crossed all the red lines”.
‘World a safer place’ after killing of Nasrallah: Israeli military
Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari has called Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah one of Israel’s “greatest enemies” and claimed his killing made the world “safer”.
In a televised briefing, Hagari said the group’s remaining senior members would still be targeted.
He added that the “Hezbollah headquarters” in Beirut where the group’s leader was killed was a legitimate military target under international law.
Israel carried out a large strike on Beirut’s densely populated southern suburbs on Friday evening, flattening at least six residential buildings in the process.
Under international law, the harm caused to civilians must not exceed but be proportional to the military advantage anticipated.
Netanyahu violating state sovereignty with complicity of US, Europe: French MP
“Appalled by the scale of the ongoing massacre in Lebanon,” Jean-Luc Melenchon, a left-wing French politician and a former Member of the European Parliament, said in a post on X.
“Netanyahu is violating the sovereignty of states throughout the region with the complicity of Europe and the USA. The genocide in Gaza is spreading without limits.”
Lebanon gives update on yesterday’s death toll from Israeli strikes
Lebanon’s Health Minister Firass Abiad says in a news conference that 11 people were killed and 108 injured in Israeli strikes yesterday.
More than 700 people have been killed since Israel intensified a bombing campaign in Lebanon on Monday.
Iraq declares three days of mourning after Nasrallah killing
Prime Minister Shia al-Sudani has declared a three-day mourning period across Iraq following confirmation of Hassan Nasrallah’s killing in yesterday’s Israeli air attack on Beirut.
“To God we belong and to Him we shall return,” a statement said.
It came shortly after influential Iraqi Shia Muslim leader Muqtada al-Sadr also announced three days of mourning.
Hamas mourns Hezbollah leader’s killing
“We extend our sincere condolences, sympathy and solidarity to the brotherly Lebanese people and brothers in Hezbollah and the Islamic resistance in Lebanon,” Hamas said in a statement, coming moments after Hezbollah confirmed the assassination of its leader Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli strike on Beirut yesterday.
“We condemn in the strongest terms this barbaric Zionist aggression and the targeting of residential buildings … in the southern suburb of Beirut, and we consider this a cowardly act of terrorism, a massacre and a heinous crime, which proves once again the bloodiness and brutality of this occupation,” the group added.
Hamas hailed Nasrallah’s support of the Palestinian cause and also condemned the US for supporting Israel.
“History has proven that the resistance against the Zionist enemy, in all its factions and places of presence, whenever its leaders go as martyrs, has a generation of leaders to lead them on the same path,” the group also said.
