The historic leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallahwas killed in the night of Beirut during aviation raids Israeli. After long hours of unconfirmed announcements, the news was announced in the morning by the Israeli Defense Forces themselves. Shortly after the announcement of the army of Tel Avivair raid sirens rang out in Israeli settlements north of Jerusalemwhich, according to Israeli media, suggests a missile attack of “exceptionally large scale”. The Israelis expect retaliation from Hezbollahwhich after the announcement launched a wide-ranging attack in the north of Israel with a salvo of rockets on the cities of Safed, Saar And Rosh Pinaa and bombing a group of Israeli soldiers a Sadah. Israel is on high alert for a larger conflict, a military spokesperson confirmed to reporters IDF.
“Israeli missile fell 500 meters from Beirut airport”
An Israeli attack hit an industrial area 500 meters from the Beirut airport buildings. Reuters wrote on its website, citing a security source who said it was the closest attack to the airport so far. The source said the affected area was full of auto repair shops. The head of Lebanese flag carrier Middle East Airlines Mohammad al-Hout said the airport was operating normally. “Beirut airport was not targeted, there are no weapons there,” al-Hout said.
Hezbollah confirms Nasrallah’s death: “He joined the martyrs”
Hezbollah confirms that Hassan Nasrallah is dead. This was reported by Hezbollah’s broadcaster, Al Manar.
“The general secretary of Hezbollah has joined its great and immortal martyrs, whose journey he has guided for almost thirty years,” says Hezbollah. “His Eminence the Master, the Master of the Resistance, the righteous servant, has took the side of his Lord as a great martyr, a courageous and heroic leader, a wise, perceptive and faithful believer, joining the eternal caravan of the martyrs of Karbala in the bright light of the divine path of faith in the footsteps of the martyred prophets and imams,” he adds Hezbollah according to Al Manar.
Tehran: ready to send troops to Lebanon
An Iranian official told the American network NBC that Tehran will begin registering in the next few days to send troops to Lebanon, following the Israeli attack in which Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed. Ayatollah Mohammad Hassan Akhtari, Iran’s vice president for international affairs, said officials would give permission to deploy troops in Lebanon and on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights. “We can send troops to Lebanon to fight against Israel, just like we did in 1981,” he says.
Reactions of the Israeli forces
The message of the killing of Nasrallah «it’s simple: we will know how to get to anyone who threatens the citizens of the State of Israel» says the Chief of Staff of the IDF, Herzi Halevi. Beyond Nasrallahthe Israeli army also claimed to have struck Ali Karakicommander of the southern front of Hezbollahalong with several other leaders of the organization. Karaki he had survived a previous attack earlier this week.
Protests in Tehran
Shortly after the announcement of IDFstreet protests erupted in Tehran against Israel to report attacks on Beirut and the ongoing war a Gaza. Protesters waved flags and held up posters HamasOf Hezbollah and Iranian leaders. The supreme leader ofIran the ayatollah Ali Khameneiwas transferred to a safe location within the country with enhanced security measures. Local officials reported this to the media.
Raids continue on Beirut
Meanwhile, the raids on Beirut they don’t stop: after warning residents to flee, Israeli forces launched a series of new airstrikes in Dahiehthe southern suburb of the Lebanese capital’s stronghold Hezbollah. The attacks are aimed at destroying the organization’s weapons depots, they add IDF. But the raids did not only hit buildings and top management Hezbollah. Dozens of civilian buildings were razed to the ground and thousands of residents were forced to flee, camping in other neighborhoods, including the seafront of the Lebanese capital.
Casualties and collateral damage
According to a still provisional toll from the Ministry of Health, at least six people were killed and 91 others injured in the bombings of Israel. The Lebanese state news agency also reports that 11 doctors, nurses and paramedics were killed and ten others were injured in Israeli army attacks on civil defense centers and a medical clinic in the cities of Taybeh And Syrian Deirnear the Israeli border. During the night of bombing, thousands of residents camped in streets, public squares and makeshift shelters.
Who is Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah
Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah since 1992. A mysterious figure in some ways, he had not appeared in public for years, precisely for fear of a possible assassination by Israel. Born on August 31, 1960 in Beirut, Nasrallah was the eldest of nine children in a family that ran a small grocery store, originally from the village of Bazouriyè, in southern Lebanon. As a teenager he studied theology in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, Iraq, but was forced to leave during crackdowns on Shiites led by then-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Returning to Lebanon, he joined the Shiite Amal movement, from which he broke away during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in the summer of 1982 to form a new group, the Islamic Amal. The Islamic Amal received substantial support from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, becoming one of the major Shiite militias that would later form Hezbollah. In 1985, Hezbollah formally announced its existence by publishing an “open letter” denouncing the United States and the Soviet Union as Islam’s principal adversaries and calling for the “annihilation” of Israel.
As Hezbollah expanded, Nasrallah rose through the group’s ranks, becoming leader in 1992, at age 32, after the assassination of his predecessor, Abbas al-Musawi, in an Israeli airstrike. One of his first responses to al-Musawi’s death was to order rocket attacks in northern Israel. His contribution was fundamental in transforming Hezbollah – armed and financed by Iran – into a political and military power. Under his leadership, Hezbollah trained Hamas fighters and militias in Iraq and Yemen, acquiring missiles and rockets from Tehran for use against Israel. His group’s arsenal, according to him, has 100 thousand fighters and powerful weapons, including high-precision missiles.
Nasrallah also led Hezbollah’s evolution from a militia designed to resist Israeli occupation to a military force surpassing the Lebanese army, which is listed as a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States. Nasrallah has rarely appeared in public since the war that pitted his movement against the Israeli army in the summer of 2006, and his residence is secret. It also transformed Hezbollah into a political force represented in Parliament and the government. The “party of God” is the only group to have kept its arms at the end of the Lebanese war (1975-1990) in the name of “resistance against Israel”, whose army gradually withdrew from Lebanon after 22 years of occupation. Married, father of five children, Nasrallah spoke fluent Farsi and wore the black turban of the Sayyed, the descendants of the Prophet Muhammad. In a rare interview, he said he played football in his youth and loved Maradona.