ඊශ්‍රායල ප්‍රහාරයකින් ලෙබනනයේ හිස්බුල්ලා නායකයා මරුට

Israel claims killing Hezbollah leader in Beirut airstrikes

The Israel Defense Forces announced on Saturday the killing of Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah, following Israel's airstrikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut, capital of Lebanon.

According to the announcement, Israeli Air Force (IAF) jets conducted targeted strikes on the Hezbollah headquarters located in the southern suburbs of Beirut. Nasrallah, along with Hezbollah's southern front commander, Ali Karki, and other Hezbollah armed commanders, was killed in the airstrikes.

Hezbollah has not responded to the announcement.

At around 18:20 local time on Friday, IAF jets conducted a series of airstrikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut, with reports of massive explosions continuing to be heard in the Lebanese capital. Reports suggest that this is the largest airstrike by Israel on Beirut since the conflict between Hezbollah and the Israeli military broke out last October.

Born in 1960 in the outskirts of Beirut, Nasrallah traveled to Iraq's province of Najaf at the age of 16 to study religion. In 1982, he joined the newly formed Hezbollah. In February 1992, following the death of Abbas al-Musawi, the Hezbollah leader at the time, in an Israeli airstrike, the 31-year-old Nasrallah took over as the party leader and has since served as its secretary-general.

Nasrallah openly opposed Israeli aggression, refused to recognize Israel as a state and rejected any reconciliation with Israel. Under his leadership, Hezbollah has continued to target Israeli objectives. His eldest son also died in combat against the Israeli military.

• Tags:
• feature