Hezbollah confirms leader Hassan Nasrallah killed after Israeli airstrikes: NPR

Supporters listen to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah via video link during a ceremony marking the first week since the assassination of Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr on August 6 in Beirut. The militant group confirmed on Saturday that Nasrallah had been killed in Israeli airstrikes.

Chris McGrath/Getty Images

Hide caption

Toggle label

Chris McGrath/Getty Images

The Israeli military said multiple airstrikes in central Beirut on Friday killed longtime leader of the militant Hezbollah group, Hassan Nasrallah.

In a statement on Saturday, Hezbollah confirmed Nasrallah's death and expressed condolences for others killed with him “after the treacherous Zionist raid on the southern suburb.”

In a post on the social media platform

During his 32 years at the helm of a group that several nations, including the United States, have designated a terrorist organization, Nasrallah made few public appearances.

Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Beirut's southern suburbs on Saturday.

Hassan Ammar/AP

Hide caption

Toggle label

Hassan Ammar/AP

Friday's airstrikes had leveled several large residential buildings in southern Beirut, which Israeli officials had almost immediately described in their statements as Hezbollah's headquarters, even as clouds of smoke and debris from the explosion rose over the city.

Lebanon's health ministry said late Friday that six people had died and more than 90 were injured as a result of the attacks. However, authorities said they were still clearing large amounts of debris, meaning those numbers were likely to rise.

The Hezbollah leader's announcement on Saturday added that the group's top military commander for the region near Lebanon's border with Israel was also killed. This would effectively mean that much of Hezbollah's command structure would have been destroyed by Israeli attacks over the past two months, as rockets, artillery, tanks and aircraft missiles continued to be fired across the border.

Israeli airstrikes continued in the southern suburbs of Beirut and elsewhere in Lebanon on Saturday morning. The Israeli military said reserve troops were being mobilized near the border with Lebanon, over which dozens of Hezbollah rockets continued to fly toward part of northern and central Israel.

Israel says it has been preparing for a ground invasion of southern Lebanon and continued to call up reservists for several days this week.

Israel's top military commander, Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, issued a video statement on Saturday in which he said Friday's unprecedented attacks targeting Hezbollah's leadership were “not the end” of what he called a “toolbox “Israel’s termed.

“Anyone who threatens the citizens of Israel, we will know how to reach them.”