JERUSALEM:

Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has reportedly been martyred in an Israeli airstrike, according to a statement from the Resistance Movement, as reported by Iran’s Mehr News Agency on Saturday afternoon.

The Israeli military had earlier claimed responsibility for killing Nasrallah in an airstrike on Hezbollah’s central headquarters in Beirut’s southern suburbs the previous day.

Hezbollah has not yet released an official statement confirming Nasrallah’s status, and Reuters was unable to reach any Hezbollah officials for comment. While a source close to the group initially told Reuters that Nasrallah was alive, Iran’s Tasnim news agency also reported that he was safe. A senior Iranian security official mentioned that Tehran was still verifying his condition.

Nasrallah has led Hezbollah for 32 years, transforming the group into a formidable regional power that has significantly expanded Iran’s influence across the Middle East. His death, if confirmed, would deal a major blow to Hezbollah and Iran, which founded the group through its Revolutionary Guards in 1982.

In a statement on X, Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee announced that the military had “eliminated… Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Hezbollah terrorist organization.” He also reported the death of another senior Hezbollah figure, Ali Karaki. “Hassan Nasrallah will no longer be able to terrorize the world,” the Israeli military added in a separate post.

Friday’s airstrike on Hezbollah’s command center, followed by additional attacks on Saturday, has sharply escalated tensions between Israel and the heavily armed group, raising fears of a broader regional conflict.

Adraee’s statement, posted in Arabic, mentioned that Israel had struck Hezbollah’s underground headquarters while its leaders were “coordinating terrorist activities against Israeli citizens.”

Despite these claims, sources close to Hezbollah and Iranian media initially reported that Nasrallah had survived the attack. However, Israel followed up Friday’s strike with a new wave of airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs and other areas of Lebanon on Saturday, further intensifying the situation.