The IDF targeted Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in a strike on the terror organization's central headquarters in Beirut Friday evening, the IDF reported after witnesses in Beirut told Reuters they had heard multiple blasts and saw clouds of smoke rising from the city.
The IDF announced the death of Nasrallah Saturday morning.
An Israeli official also confirmed to The Jerusalem Post that the Hezbollah leader had been one of the targets of the attack. The official added, “Hard to believe he got out of it alive.”
Israeli officials suspect that Nasrallah was in the bunker targeted in the recent bombing, and anyone inside would struggle to survive such an attack.
About three hours before the strike, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu consulted with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi. A security source told the Qatari newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that "the extent of the destruction in Dahieh is enormous. Lebanon has reinforced all ambulances and dispatched them to the scene."
דיווחים בלבנון על תקיפה ישראלית בביירות; בעוד זמן קצר - הצהרת דובר צה"ל @Doron_Kadosh @barakbet pic.twitter.com/1Pl05By1S9
— גלצ (@GLZRadio) September 27, 2024
Reuters reported that Nasrallah was alive, citing a source close to Hezbollah. Iran's IRGC-controlled Tasnim News Agency also reported he was alive, and an additional Hezbollah operative has also stated Nasrallah survived the attack.
"Hezbollah's central headquarters was intentionally built under residential buildings in the heart of the Dahiyeh in Beirut as part of Hezbollah's strategy of using Lebanese people as human shields," IDF Spokesman R.-Adm. Daniel Hagari stated in an evening address.
Hagari said that the targeted building was the epicenter of Hezbollah's terror activities.
Gallant, at the time of the strike, was at the Israel Air Force's (IAF) command and control center, where he monitored the strike against Hezbollah's headquarters, the Defense Ministry stated.
Other senior officials, including Halevi and the commander of the IAF, were also present.
Netanyahu cut his trip to New York short and plans to leave for Israel Friday night on Shabbat, following the IDF strike on Beirut that targeted Nasrallah.
Following a situation assessment after the strike, the IDF stressed that it is prepared in all offensive and defensive arenas. A senior security official told army radio that anyone in the Hezbollah headquarters will not get out alive, and they are closely following what is developing in Beirut.
The IDF added that there was no change in the Home Front Command directives.
According to Israeli sources, Israel informed the US of the strike shortly before, and Netanyahu authorized the strike from New York.
The Pentagon later said that the US did not have advanced warning of an Israeli strike in Beirut, and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart as the operation was ongoing, Reuters reported. Later, US President Joe Biden also said he did not know the strike would occur beforehand.
Lebanese media: New airstrike in Beirut pic.twitter.com/R8o4U3YeoD
— ILRedAlert (@ILRedAlert) September 27, 2024
"After almost a year of Hezbollah firing rockets, missiles, and suicide drones at Israeli civilians, after almost a year of Israel warning the world and telling them that Hezbollah must be stopped, Israel is doing what every sovereign state in the world would do if they had a terror organization that seeks their destruction on their border, taking the necessary action to protect our people so that Israeli families can live in their homes, safely and securely,” Hagari said in his address.
In response to the Israeli strike targeting Nasrallah, the Iranian embassy in Beirut released a statement on X/Twitter calling the attack "a bloody massacre, adding that it represented "a serious escalation that changes the rules of the game, bringing upon its perpetrator the appropriate."
مرة جديدة يرتكب النظام الإسرائيلي مجزرة دموية، مستهدفًا أحياء سكنية مكتظة بالسكان، مطلقًا تبريرات زائفة في محاولة لتغطية جريمته الوحشية وتغطية السماوات بالقبوات.لا شك أن هذه الجريمة المدانة والسلوك الأرعن يمثلان تصعيدًا خطيرًا يغير قواعد اللعبة، يستجلب لصاحبه العقاب المناسب…
— السفارة الإيرانية- لبنان (@IranEmbassyLB) September 27, 2024
Successive airstrikes
The IDF targeted Beirut shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to continue Israel's attacks on Hezbollah.
The southern suburbs of Beirut were hit in successive airstrikes, Hezbollah affiliate Al Manar TV reported. Southern Beirut is known as a Hezbollah stronghold, and the Israeli air force struck the area last week, targeting and killing 16 Hezbollah commanders, including Radwan Force commander Ibrahim Aqil. In another strike in the southern portion of the city, Israel eliminated Hezbollah drone unit chief Muhammad Hossein Sarur.
Many ambulances and civil defense vehicles arrived at the scenes of four buildings that had exploded.
Tovah Lazaroff and Reuters contributed to this report.