The commander of Hezbollah’s terror activities in Southern Lebanon, Ali Karaki, was also killed in the attack. Karaki, the Iranian proxy’s No. 3 terrorist, had narrowly evaded an Israeli targeted killing attempt earlier this week.
By Charles Bybelezer, JNS
Terror master Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israel Defense Forces strike on Hezbollah’s headquarters in Beirut, the military confirmed on Saturday.
There was no immediate official reaction from the Lebanese government, but a source close to Hezbollah said contact with him had been “lost.”
Several hours later, Hezbollah confirmed Nasrallah’s death.
The Israeli Air Force conducted the massive airstrike targeting the headquarters, built underground beneath residential buildings, in the heart of the Dahiyeh district of the Lebanese capital on Friday evening.
The operation to assassinate Nasrallah was named “New Order.”
The commander of Hezbollah’s terror activities in Southern Lebanon, Ali Karaki, was also killed in the attack. Karaki, the Iranian proxy’s No. 3 terrorist, had narrowly evaded an Israeli targeted killing attempt earlier this week.
On Saturday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was transferred to a location with heightened security, Reuters reported, citing two regional officials.
Beforehand, Khamenei called on Muslims 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],” according to a statement carried by Iranian state media.
“The fate of this region will be determined by the forces of resistance, with Hezbollah at the forefront,” he added.
Khamenei convened on Friday night an emergency session of the Supreme National Security Council to discuss a response, according to The New York Times.
Iran’s embassy in Lebanon condemned the strike on Nasrallah and vowed to “bring its perpetrator an appropriate punishment.
“This reprehensible crime … represents a dangerous escalation that changes the rules of the game,” stated the mission.
In a separate strike, the IDF killed Mohammed Ismail, the commander of Hezbollah’s missile array in Southern Lebanon, the military announced on Saturday. He was responsible for numerous attacks, including Wednesday’s ballistic missile launch at Tel Aviv.
“The is not the end of the tools in the toolbox,” said IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi of the targeted killings. “The message is simple, to anyone who threatens the citizens of the State of Israel, we will know how to get to them.”
War against Hezbollah rages
Earlier on Saturday, the IDF called on Lebanese civilians to evacuate from several buildings in Dahiyeh, a known Hezbollah stronghold, as the Israeli Air Force carried out waves of strikes across Lebanon.
Among the targets were weapons manufacturing and storage facilities, along with a Hezbollah command center, in Beirut, as well as other terrorist infrastructure in the Beqaa Valley in the country’s east.
“The terrorist organization Hezbollah and its leader Hassan Nasrallah joined the war against the State of Israel on Oct. 8. Since then, Hezbollah has continued its attacks against the citizens of the State of Israel, and has dragged the State of Lebanon and the entire region into escalation,” the IDF said in a statement released on Saturday.
“The IDF will continue to harm anyone who promotes and engages in terrorism against the citizens of the State of Israel,” it added.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah continued on Saturday to pummel the Jewish state with rocket fire, with a surface-to-surface missile launched from Lebanon hitting an open area in central Israel, the IDF said.
In accordance with protocol, air raid sirens were not triggered, as the projectile was not headed for populated areas.
Hezbollah also fired a volley of Fadi-1 rockets at Kibbutz Kabri in the Western Galilee, as well 10 rockets towards Safed in the Eastern Galilee.
Additionally, a long-range missile struck in Samaria, reportedly hitting a Palestinian home in Hawara, near Nablus.
There were no reports of injuries.
U.S.-led ceasefire push
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who delivered a defiant speech on Friday morning in New York City during the 79th Session of the U.N. General Assembly, cut his trip short and was en route back to Israel, making the exceedingly rare decision to fly on Shabbat.
Netanyahu has urged Lebanese citizens to rise up against Hezbollah while warning that the military would not hesitate to strike anywhere in Lebanon.
“I say to the people of Lebanon: Our war is not with you. Our war is with Hezbollah. Nasrallah is leading you to the edge of the abyss,” said Netanyahu on Tuesday after a visit to an intelligence base somewhere in Israel.
“I told you to evacuate homes in which there is a missile in the living room and a rocket in the garage,” he said. “Whoever has a missile in the living room and a rocket in the garage will no longer have a home.”
Nevertheless, Netanyahu said on Thursday that he “shares the aim” of the U.S.-led diplomatic push to end the intensifying war with Hezbollah, speaking hours after insisting that the IDF would not back down amid reports of an imminent ceasefire.
The United States, Australia, Canada, European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar called jointly on Wednesday night for an “immediate 21-day ceasefire across the Lebanon-Israel border to provide space for diplomacy towards the conclusion of a diplomatic settlement.”
Before the statement went out, U.S. President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron stated that “it is time for a settlement on the Israel-Lebanon border that ensures safety and security to enable civilians to return to their homes.”
Neither statement mentioned Hezbollah.
IDF in escalation mode
On Thursday, the IDF killed the head of Hezbollah’s aerial forces in an airstrike in Beirut’s Dahiyeh district. Senior terrorist Muhammad Hossein Sarur commanded numerous attacks with “cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles launched at the Israeli home front,” the IDF said.
On Tuesday, Israeli Air Force jets carried out another strike in Dahiyeh, killing Ibrahim Qubaisi, the commander of Hezbollah’s missile array.
Last week, the IDF took credit for strike in Dahiyeh that killed more than a dozen senior Hezbollah terrorists, including Ibrahim Aqil, whom Washington also wanted for his involvement in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Beirut.
Jerusalem has escalated strikes on Hezbollah since adding the return of evacuated Israeli civilians to the north as an official war goal on Sept. 17.
Hezbollah has attacked Israel nearly daily since Oct. 8, firing some 9,000 rockets, missiles and drones. The attacks have killed more than 40 people and caused widespread damage. Tens of thousands of Israeli civilians remain displaced internally due to the violence.