Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has reportedly been taken to a safe and secure location after Israel confirmed on Saturday that it had eliminated Hezbollah chief Hasan Nasrallah in airstrikes conducted by its fighter jets in the Daha area of Beirut late Friday.
85-year-old Khamenei is a former President of the country, who has been presiding over the country as its 'Supreme Leader' since 1989 and has constantly supported terror groups Hezbollah and Hamas for several decades.
"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," a statement issued by Khamenei's account on X said Saturday afternoon, which was his first reaction to Israel's overnight attack on Lebanon.
With no comment on Nasrallah's fate, he also said Friday's strikes would not be able to inflict any significant damage on the "solid structure" of Lebanon's Hezbollah.
"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.
As if that was not enough, there were reports that Khamenei was moved to a safe location along with the country. These alerts came amidst Israel's statements that it would not draw back an its campaign "New Order" aimed at ridding the terrorists' leadership.
"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 Israeli Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi on Saturday.
Identified as holding ties with Hezbollah from the founding of the terrorist movement in 1982, following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, he became the leadership figure of the organization in 1992 and struggled to transform it into a hybrid political-military institution.
"There are 32 years of the reign of the terrorist Hassan Nasrallah as the head of Hezbollah, during which 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," Halevi said.
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