Israel claims Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah killed in airstrike

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Israel claims Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah killed in airstrike

Tel Aviv (Web Desk/Agencies): The Israeli military claimed on Saturday that it had killed Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike on the group's central headquarters in the southern suburbs of Beirut a day earlier.

According to international media outlet Reuters, it could not could not immediately reach Hezbollah officials for comment on the Israeli army statement regarding the status of Nasrallah, who has led the group for 32 years.

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.

A source close to Hezbollah had earlier told Reuters that Nasrallah was alive, while Iran's Tasnim news agency also reported he was safe. A senior Iranian security official told Reuters that Tehran was checking his status.

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 claimed that Nasrallah’s daughter had died in airstrike.

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.