The Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah announced on Saturday that its chief, Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah, had been "martyred in a criminal attack" late Friday evening on the southern suburbs of Beirut.
"Our leadership is committed to continuing the jihad against the enemy and supporting Gaza and defending Lebanon and its steadfast nation," the organization said in a statement.
Unofficial sources report that successive Israeli raids on Haret Hreik, a southern suburb of Beirut, have resulted in the deaths of six people and injuring 91 others, including 14 who were hospitalized, according to the Lebanon Ministry of Public Health.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) told earlier in the day that the leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group, Hassan Nasrallah has been confirmed dead after deadly attack on the headquarters of the group in the southern suburbs of Beirut late Friday.
According to IDF, Nasrallah will no longer be able to "terrorise the world."
Nasrallah has been seen as the face of Hezbollah from its founding in 1982 following the Israeli invasion into Lebanon. He succeeded the organization's leadership in 1992 with the expressed intention of transforming it into a hybrid political-military organization.
"During the 32 years of the terrorist Hassan Nasrallah's tenure as the leader of Hezbollah, he was responsible for the murder of many Israeli civilians and soldiers, and for the planning and execution of thousands of terrorist acts against the State of Israel and around the world. Nasrallah was the main decision-maker and the sole approver of strategic-systemic decisions, and sometimes also tactical decisions in the organization," Israeli Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, said on Saturday.
The IDF stated that, besides Nasrallah, several other Hezbollah terrorist commanders were killed, among them Ali Karchi, commander of the front, in strikes by fighter jets from the Israeli Air Force "under the precise intelligence guidance of the intelligence wing and the defense system, at the underground central headquarters of Hezbollah, located under a residential building in the Daha area of Beirut.".
Israel vowed to keep up its operation "New Order" against terror leaders.
"This is not the end of the toolbox, it should be very clear. There are more tools to go forward. The message is a simple message: whoever threatens the citizens of the State of Israel - we will know how to reach them. In the north, in the south, even in more distant places," said Halevi.
Meanwhile, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, reportedly transferred to a safe and secure location, said Friday's attacks will not be able to inflict any significant damage on the "solid structure" of Lebanon's Hezbollah.
"All the Resistance forces in the region stand with and support Hezbollah. The Resistance forces will determine the fate of this region with the honorable Hezbollah leading the way," said a statement from Khamenei's X account on Saturday afternoon, which was his first reaction to Israel's overnight attack on Lebanon.
"The Lebanese haven't forgotten there was a time when the soldiers of the occupying regime were advancing toward Beirut, & Hezbollah stopped them & made Lebanon proud. Today too, by the grace & power of God, Lebanon will make the transgressing, malicious enemy regret its actions," he added.
