BEIRUT — Lebanon's Hezbollah group confirmed on Saturday that its leader and one of its founding members, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in a southern suburb of Beirut.
The killing of the powerful militant group's longtime leader sent shockwaves throughout Lebanon and the Middle East, where he has been a dominant political and military figure for more than three decades.
Nasrallah, linked by Israel to numerous deadly attacks on Israeli and Jewish targets, has been on Israel's kill list for decades. His assassination is by far the biggest and most consequential of Israel's targeted killings in years, and significantly escalates the war in the Middle East. Hezbollah is backed by Iran, Israel's chief regional rival.
An Iranian demonstrator holds up a poster of the leader of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group Hassan Nasrallah in a gathering Saturday at the Palestine Square in downtown Tehran, Iran.
Abbas Nilforushan, 58, a prominent general in Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also was killed in the Israeli airstrike, Iranian media reported Saturday.
The killings came as the nearly yearlong Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip teeters on the edge of becoming a regional conflict.
Nilforushan's death — reported by the state-owned newspaper Tehran Times — ratchets up pressure on Iran to respond.
Ahmad Reza Pour Khaghan, the deputy head of Iran’s judiciary, confirmed Nilforushan's death, describing him as a “guest to the people of Lebanon," the state-run IRNA news agency said. Khaghan also reportedly said Iran has the right to retaliate under international law.
A woman weeps Saturday during a gathering in support of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group at the Palestine Square in downtown Tehran, Iran.
The Israeli military said it carried out a precise airstrike on Friday while Hezbollah leaders met at their headquarters in Dahiyeh, south of Beirut.
The Israeli strike was a “measure of justice" for victims of a “reign of terror,” U.S. President Joe Biden said.
Immediately after Hezbollah confirmed his death, people starting firing in the air in Beirut and across Lebanon to mourn Nasrallah's death.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel's targeting of Nasrallah was "an essential condition to achieving the goals we set."
Netanyahu said Nasrallah's killing would help bring displaced Israelis back to their homes in the north and would pressure Hamas to free Israeli hostages held in Gaza. But he warned the coming days would bring "significant challenges" and warned Iran against trying to strike.
France 24's Irris Makler says Israel will continue its offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon in an effort to continue to weaken the group's military capabilities.
"There is no place in Iran or in the Middle East that Israel's long arm cannot reach. And today you know how much that is true," he said.
The Lebanese Health Ministry said six people were killed and 91 injured in the strikes Friday that leveled six apartment buildings. Ali Karki, the commander of Hezbollah's Southern Front, and other commanders were also killed, the Israeli military said.
A statement from Hezbollah said Nasrallah "joined his fellow martyrs." The group vowed to "continue the holy war against the enemy and in support of Palestine."
Hezbollah started firing rockets on Israel in support of Gaza on Oct. 8, a day after Hamas militants launched an attack on Israel, killing about 1,200 people and abducting another 250. Since then, the two sides engaged in escalating cross-border strikes.
Iranian demonstrators chant slogans Saturday as one of them holds an anti-U.S. placard in a gathering to support Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group at the Palestine Square in downtown Tehran, Iran.
Israel vowed to step up pressure on Hezbollah until it halts its attacks that displaced tens of thousands of Israelis from communities near the Lebanese border. The recent fighting also displaced more than 200,000 Lebanese in the past week, according to the United Nations.
Israel killed several other top Hezbollah commanders in Beirut, especially in the past two weeks, in addition to the attack that killed Nasrallah. A total of 1,030 people — including 156 women and 87 children — were killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon in less than two weeks, the country's health minister said Saturday.
Earlier this month, thousands of explosives hidden in pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah detonated, killing dozens of people and maiming thousands, including many civilians. Israel is widely believed to be behind the attack.
A man, right, distributes food Saturday for people who fled the southern suburb of Beirut amid ongoing Israeli airstrikes, at a park in downtown Beirut, Lebanon.
In Beirut's southern suburbs, smoke rose and the streets were empty Saturday after the area was pummeled overnight by heavy Israeli airstrikes. Shelters overflowed with displaced people. Many families slept in public squares, on beaches or in their cars. Hundreds of people could be seen fleeing on foot, holding infants and belongings.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas sent condolences to its ally Hezbollah, and said "assassinations will only increase the resistance in Lebanon and Palestine in determination and resolve."
Iran's supreme leader announced five days of public mourning and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called Nasrallah "the flag-bearer of resistance" in the region. Hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Tehran.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on Muslims on Saturday "to stand by the people of Lebanon and the proud Hezbollah with whatever means they have and assist them in confronting the ... wicked regime (of Israel)". Khamenei's call came after Israel said it killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Israel's Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, indicated Saturday that more strikes were planned.
Late Saturday, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant's office said he was meeting with top army commanders to discuss the expansion of military activities along Israel's northern front.
The military said Saturday it would mobilize three more battalions of reserve soldiers to serve across the country. It already sent two brigades to northern Israel to prepare for a possible ground invasion.
Lebanese and Palestinian men hold portraits of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, as they shout slogans Saturday during a protest in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon.
Air raid sirens sounded across central Israel on Saturday afternoon, including at the Tel Aviv international airport, shortly after Netanyahu returned from a trip to the U.S.
The Israeli military said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen. Houthi rebels based in Yemen later said they were behind the attack.
The Israeli military updated guidelines for Israeli citizens, canceling gatherings of more than 1,000 people due to the threat.
Nasrallah’s assassination by Israel shakes Hezbollah to its core.
