Hassan Nasrallah's Death A 'Major Loss' For Hezbollah And Ally Iran

Hours after the Iran-allied militant group Hezbollah confirmed that its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in a massive Israeli air strike, violence flared again, with sirens blaring in Tel Aviv and Israeli forces continuing to hit targets in Beirut and southern Lebanon.

The Israeli military on September 28 said air-raid sirens had gone off at Tel Aviv's airport as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was returning from the United States and his speech at the Unted Nations, with officials saying missiles fired by Iran-backed Huthi rebels were intercepted over the city. No injuries were immediately reported.

It was not known if the missile attack specifically targeted Netanyahu, who cut short his U.S. trip amid the latest violence, which intensified on September 27 when Israel launched a massive attack on southern Lebanon, killing Nasrallah and several other leaders of the U.S.-designated terrorist organization.

Israeli forces on September 28 continued their air strikes on sites they said housed Hezbollah commanders and weapons, including what they said was a "precise strike" on a site in Beirut.

After hours of widespread speculation, Hezbollah confirmed the Israeli military's earlier claim that it had killed Nasrallah in a series of strikes, which also claimed the lives of several other members of the group.

"Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, secretary-general of Hezbollah, has joined his great, immortal martyr comrades whom he led for about 30 years," Hezbollah said in a statement on September 28.

Hezbollah vowed to continue its fight against Israel despite the death of its longtime leader. It gave no indication of who might succeed Nasrallah.

U.S. officials said they were not informed ahead of the attacks by close ally Israel and played no role in the action.

On September 28, the Defense Department said Secretary Lloyd Austin had told Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant that the United States was determined to prevent Iran and Iran-linked groups from exploiting the situation in Lebanon or expanding hostilities.

Pentagon spokesman Patrick Ryder said Austin expressed full support for Israel's right to defend itself and "made it clear the United States remains postured to protect U.S. forces and facilities in the region and committed to the defense of Israel."

Moscow, meanwhile, condemned the killing of Nasrallah, with the Foreign Ministry labeling it "yet another political assassination."

"This forceful action is fraught with even greater dramatic consequences for Lebanon and the entire Middle East," it said.

Early on September 28, Israel's military said that it killed Nasrallah in a series of strikes in Beirut a day earlier.

The Arabic spokesman of the Israeli Defense Forces, Avichay Adraee, said in a statement on X earlier that Nasrallah; Ali Karki, the commander of Hezbollah's southern front; and a number of other commanders of the group were killed.

"The message is clear: We will reach everyone who threatens the citizens of Israel in the north, in the south, and on more distant fronts."

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), which has been targeted by sanctions from the United States, said a top commander, Abbas Nilforushan, 58, also died in the Israeli air strike.

Nilforushan himself was put under sanctions in 2022 by the U.S. Treasury, which identified him as the IRGC deputy commander for operations who it said had led an organization "directly in charge of protest suppression" in Iran.

The Israeli Defense Force also posted a message on X, saying, "Hassan Nasrallah will no longer be able to terrorize the world."

The Lebanese Health Ministry said at least 11 people had been killed and more than 100 injured, although it said the toll was certain to rise after the ruins of several destroyed buildings were cleared.

The United Nations estimated that more than 50,000 people have fled Lebanon for neighboring Syria amid the Israeli strikes and that some 110,000 people had been displaced.

In the statement announcing Nasrallah's death, Hezbollah also offered its condolences to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in an open admission of the group's close ties with Tehran.

Khamenei earlier on September 28 issued a statement condemning what he said was an Israeli "massacre" in Lebanon, but did not mention Nasrallah's fate.

"The massacre of the defenseless people in Lebanon once again revealed the ferocity of the Zionist rabid dog to everyone, and proved the short-sighted and stupid policy of the leaders of the usurping regime," Khamenei said.

However, Reuters quoted sources as saying Khamenei had been transferred to a secure location, with heightened security measures in place.

Israeli media also reported on September 28 that Nasrallah's daughter, Zainab Nasrallah, had been killed in the strikes. Hezbollah has not confirmed the report. Nasrallah's son, Hadi, was killed in fighting against Israeli troops in 1997.

The Israeli military initially said on September 27 that the series of strikes had targeted Hezbollah's "central headquarters" located under residential buildings in Beirut without officially mentioning Nasrallah by name.

Heiko Wimmen, an analyst with the International Crisis Group, told RFE/RL that Israel's repeated blows, while not being able to annihilate Hezbollah completely, have degraded it to a large extent.

He said the latest strikes would press the group to show it can still react forcefully.

"It is obviously yet another dramatic blow. Many dramatic blows can add up to [make] a fundamental one. In general, Hamas is too much institutionalized to be decapitated, but [the Israelis] have wiped out so many of the cadres that something will give eventually. And then there is the lack to their credibility. If today is not enough for them to throw at Israel all they have, then the impression deepens that they just can't do it."

Analyst Norman Roule of the Washington-based National Security Institute said Israel has weakened Hezbollah to the point where the Lebanese government could actually expunge the group.

"Israel's Defense Forces have eradicated an entire generation of Hezbollah leadership who take with them a collective pool of experience that is collectively irreplaceable.... In a perfect world, the Lebanese government would use this moment to assert its authority and rid Lebanon of this armed group. [However], it is too early to say whether this will happen," Roule told RFE/RL.

Nasrallah's death is a huge embarrassment for Iran's leadership as well, Berlin-based analyst Ali Fathollah-nejad told RFE/RL.

"It would constitute the most heavy blow to Tehran's regional standing after the U.S. drone killing of General Qassem Soleimani. Nasrallah, Soleimani, and Khamenei -- Iran's supreme leader -- constituted the nucleus of Iran's expansive regional ambitions," Fathollah-nejad told RFE/RL before the death was confirmed.

Early on September 28, Israel's military launched a fresh round of strikes against what it said were Hezbollah targets in southern Beirut and in eastern Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, claiming that Hezbollah had stored weapons at the sites, after urging residents to evacuate them.

It also reported strikes in the ancient city of Tyre early on September 28.

Rocket launches by Hezbollah into Israel were also reported to be continuing. The group has been firing into Israel with increasing intensity since the beginning of the Gaza war, claiming it to be in support of the fighters of Hamas, a group designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and European Union.