Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Hezbollah group  (Credit: Wikipedia)

By   Gary  Raynaldo     –  DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli air strike Saturday in Lebanon’s capital city Beirut. The Lebanese terror group and Israeli’s military both confirmed his death. Israel’s assassination of Nasrallah has delivered a heavy blow to the Iran-backed terror group, according to many observers.   Nasrallah was an influential leader who led the militant group for the past three decades.  Israel targeted Beirut with a series of attacks  in the Dahiyeh neighborhood of Beirut. The Israel Defense Forces announced that its air force had struck Hezbollah’s main headquarters with the goal of assassinating Nasrallah.  

“Hassan Nasrallah will no longer be able to terrorise the world,” the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said in a statement on X.

President Biden statement on the Killing of Nasrallah:

“Hassan Nasrallah and the terrorist group he led, Hezbollah, were responsible for killing hundreds of Americans over a four-decade reign of terror.  His death from an Israeli airstrike is a measure of justice for his many victims, including thousands of Americans, Israelis, and Lebanese civilians. The United States fully supports Israel’s right to defend itself against Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and any other Iranian-supported terrorist groups.”

The recent massive airstrikes and pager explosions in Lebanon have shaken Hezbollah. A large number of pagers used by hundreds of Hezbollah personnel exploded in Lebanon on September 17 killing at least 37 people, including two children, and wounding thousands more.  Israel carried out part of its pager device attack targeting Hezbollah by concealing explosives inside the batteries of pagers brought into Lebanon, CNN reported.

“Nasrallah’s Death A Crushing Blow”  to Hezbollah and Iran 

“Hezbollah leader Sayed Hassan Nasrallah possessed a rare set of abilities that made the group a formidable foe to Israel and a power broker in Lebanon. His killing by Israel sharply weakens the threat posed by the group and its patron, Iran.”

-Council on Foreign Affairs Expert Brief by Bruce Hoffman

Hoffman added that “…with its leadership effectively decapitated and its communications compromised and its penetration by Israeli intelligence having made both possible, Hezbollah for the time being will have trouble mobilizing to engage in any kind of effective and sustained combat with Israel.”

 “Killing Nasrallah, arguably the most powerful man in Lebanon, is no less than an earthquake… (a) devastating blow to Iran, Hezbollah’s patron”

  – The Mirror

Hezbollah Vows To Continue Fighting Israel Despite Nasrallah Assassination 

Hezbollah pledged to keep up the fight against Israel “in support of Gaza and Palestine, and in defence of Lebanon and its steadfast and honourable people”, Al Jazeera reported. 

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian issued a statement saying Nasrallah’s killing “will only further strengthen the resistance”, according to Al Jazeera