Hezbollah confirms death of leader Nasrallah. And the continuation of the ‘Holy War’
Hezbollah announced this Saturday the death of Hassan Nasrallah, following a bombing on the outskirts of Beirut, confirming the news released a few hours ago by Israel, that it had killed the leader of the Lebanese Islamist movement in the attack carried out on Friday afternoon.
“Hassan Nasrallah joined his fellow martyrs (…) whose march he led for almost 30 years, guiding them from victory to victory”, announced the pro-Iranian group, in a statement cited by the French agency AFP. Hezbollah guarantees, however, that it “will continue its fight against the enemy”, describing Nasrallah as a “sacred martyr”, killed “in a treacherous Zionist air strike in the southern suburbs [de Beirute]”. “The Hezbollah leadership promises to the most supreme, sacred and beloved martyr of our journey, that it will continue its struggle to face the enemy, in support of Gaza and Palestine, and in defense of Lebanon and its steadfast and honorable people”, read- if in the statement.
This morning, Nadav Shoshani, the Israeli army spokesman had announced on social media that Hassan Nasrallah was dead. Another spokesperson also said that other Hezbollah commanders had been shot down. They were all in the same place, in Dahiyeh, a densely populated southern suburb of Beirut.
Videos being shared on social media show several violent explosions where the movement’s headquarters were located. The headquarters would operate in an underground structure, beneath a residential building, and at the time of the attack “the command line” would be gathered there “to advance terrorist activities against Israeli civilians”, explained the Israeli army in a statement.
The number of civilian casualties caused by the attack was not revealed. Israeli forces say they do not yet have this information, refusing to specify the type of weapons used in the bombing, as well as details on proving Nasrallah’s death.
Nasrallah, 67, rose to leadership of the movement in 1992, replacing Abbas Moussaouiafter he was also killed during an Israeli attack with a helicopter. Born in August 1960, his adolescence was marked by the Lebanese civil war. When Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982, Nasrallah joined a group of fighters that would evolve into today’s Hezbollah.
He was its leader for 32 years. He lived in hiding, rarely appearing in public, becoming the most powerful and influential man in the country, the target of a true cult of personality. THE Nasrallah’s popularity within the Shia community is supported by a vast network of schools, hospitals and associations serving his supporters. Member of the government and parliament, where neither his camp nor his opponents have an absolute majority, prevented the election of a President of the Republic for almost two years.
Israel had already killed, on September 20, the head of military operations and elite forces, Ibrahim Aqil, in another attack in Beirut, in which 16 other Hezbollah members and dozens of civilians also died. At the end of July, in another bomb attack in Beirut, Hezbollah’s then number two, Fuad Shukr, was killed.
