Jerusalem: The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) Saturday announced that Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah had been eliminated following a deadly strike on the headquarters of the Lebanese militant group in the southern suburbs of Beirut late Friday.
It also confirmed that, along with Nasrallah, several other commanders of the terrorist organisation – including Ali Karchi, the commander of Hezbollah’s southern front – have been eliminated in the strikes by the fighter jets of the Israeli Air Force “under the precise intelligence guidance of the intelligence wing and the defence system”, at the underground central headquarters of Hezbollah, located under a residential building, in the Daha area of Beirut.
“The Israeli IDF confirms that Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Hezbollah terrorist organisation and one of its founders, was eliminated yesterday, together with Ali Karki, the Commander of Hezbollah’s Southern Front, and additional Hezbollah commanders,” said the IDF.
The Israeli Chief of Staff said after the elimination of Nasrallah that, “This is not the end of the toolbox”.
“The message is simple, to anyone who threatens the citizens of the State of Israel – we will know how to get to them,” he said while addressing the media Saturday afternoon.
The IDF stated that Nasrallah will no longer be able to “terrorise the world”.
Given the size and timing of the blast in the densely populated Dahiyeh suburb, which is known as a stronghold for the group, there were strong indications that a high-value target was inside the building at the time, the Israeli media reported earlier in the day.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said six buildings were “levelled to the ground” by the strikes.
Israel had been launching continued strikes on targets in Dahieh, saying it was targeting Hezbollah weapons stored under civilian buildings.
Eyewitnesses in Beirut reported Israeli warplanes flying over the city’s southern suburb and conducting several rounds of bombings within an hour in the Dahieh district.
Prior to the attacks, Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a statement that the targeted weapons included “a range of coast-to-sea missiles originating from Iran.”
IANS
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