Jerusalem (Web Desk): Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was martyred in an Israeli strike, the resistance movement stated in a statement on Saturday, international media outlet Reuters reported.
In a statement, the group said it would continue its battle against Israel "in support of Gaza and Palestine, and in defence of Lebanon and its steadfast and honourable people".
Hassan Nasrallah had been the face of Hezbollah for decades, widely regarded as a powerful figure in the resistance against Israel. His death is likely to escalate tensions in the region, with supporters vowing to avenge their leader’s assassination.
The announcement has already sparked reactions across Lebanon and beyond, as many mourn the loss of a prominent figure in the fight for Lebanon’s sovereignty.
Earlier, the Israeli military claimed on Saturday that it had killed Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike on the group's central headquarters in the southern suburbs of Beirut a day earlier.
The Israeli military "eliminated ... Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Hezbollah terrorist organization," Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee wrote in a statement on social media platform X.
Another top Hezbollah leader - Ali Karaki - was also killed, he added.
"Hassan Nasrallah will no longer be able to terrorise the world," the Israeli military said in a separate post.
In the first hours after Friday's strike, a source close to Hezbollah told Reuters that Nasrallah was alive. Iran's Tasnim news agency also reported he was safe. A senior Iranian security official told Reuters that Tehran was checking his status.
Israel followed up on Friday's attack with a new wave of airstrikes on Beirut's southern suburbs and other areas of Lebanon on Saturday.
Earlier, Zainab Nasrallah, the daughter of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, was reportedly killed in an Israeli airstrike Lebanese capital city of Beirut. Israeli media had also claimed killing of Nasrallah’s daughter.
The Friday’s airstrikes in Beirut are marked as the heaviest assault in nearly a year of ongoing conflict between the two sides.
The death toll in Israeli attacks on Lebanon has surged to 700 since Monday while thousands of families are displaced.
Israel launched a new wave of airstrikes on Beirut's southern suburbs and other areas of Lebanon on Saturday, a day after carrying out the massive attack on the southern suburbs of Beirut known as Dahiyeh.