The Israeli army on Saturday officially announced the killing of Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah, one day after carrying out a large-scale attack on Lebanon.
“Hassan Nasrallah is dead,” Israeli army spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said via social media platform X.
Israel’s Defense Forces (IDF) said Nasrallah, who led the Iran-backed militant group for more than three decades, was killed on Friday as fighter jets conducted what it described as a “targeted strike” on Hezbollah’s headquarters in Lebanon’s capital of Beirut.
Among other Hezbollah commanders, the IDF said Ali Karki, the commander of Hezbollah’s southern front, was also killed in the strike.
CNBC was not able to independently verify the report. No comments or statements from Hezbollah have yet been made.
Israel’s announcement marks what would be considered a monumental blow to Hezbollah after several months of conflict. The IDF said Nasrallah was the group’s “central decision-maker” and “strategic leader.”
Lebanese political analyst Ronnie Chatah said on Saturday that if the news of Nasrallah’s death is confirmed, the Hezbollah that had been able to wield power with absolute authority, grow to stand as the world’s largest paramilitary force and become the world’s most sophisticated terrorist organization, was now over.
“I think the symbolism cannot be overstated. This is, by far, the deepest psychological blow to this organization since its inception. Hezbollah cannot be the same without Hassan Nasrallah,” he added.
Chatah said what emerges in the coming months and years will be “something else,” an organization that will remain intact, “albeit much smaller.”
‘A big void’
Nasrallah, 64, is regarded as one of the most influential figures in the Middle East and has played a key role in transforming Hezbollah into a major military and political force. He has led the Lebanon-based group since 1992, taking the reins after Israel assassinated the group’s previous leader, Abbas al-Musawi.
Hezbollah, which is recognized as a terrorist organization by the U.S., Britain, and other nations, is known to be driven by its violent opposition to Israel and its resistance to Western influence in the Middle East, according to the Council on Foreign Relations think tank.
Firas Maksad, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Middle East Institute think tank, said on Saturday that news of Nasrallah’s killing would lead to “significant” regional ramifications.
“Nasrallah was the preeminent and most iconic Arab leader in Iran’s regional axis. His killing is emblematic of a head-on confrontation between Israel and Iran over the future of Lebanon and the Levant. This is likely the begging of a coming clash and not the end,” Maksad said.
“Locally, Nasrallah was also the most powerful leader [in] Lebanon’s Shia community. His assassination leaves a big void and raises serious [questions] about the future role of the community within Lebanon’s archaic sectarian system,” he continued.
“In the short-term, it is likely to exacerbate political polarization and further contribute to the fragility of a country with weak central government, contributing to further unrest,” Maksad said.
— CNBC’s Emma Graham contributed to this report.
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