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IDF attack targets Hezbollah chief Nasrallah in Beirut

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IDF attack targets Hezbollah chief Nasrallah in Beirut

Updated to reflect that Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is not yet confirmed to have been killed in the Israeli strike.

The IDF targeted Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in an attack on the terrorist organization’s headquarters in Beirut on Friday evening, the IDF reported, after witnesses in Beirut told Reuters they heard multiple explosions and saw clouds of smoke rising from the city.

Israeli officials suspect that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was in the bunker targeted in the latest bombing and that anyone inside would have difficulty surviving such an attack.

About three hours before the attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu conferred with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi. A security source told Qatari newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that “the scale of destruction in Dahieh is enormous. Lebanon has reinforced all ambulances and sent them to the scene of the accident.”

Reuters, citing a source close to Hezbollah, reported that Nasrallah was alive. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard-controlled Tasnim news agency also reported that he was alive, and another Hezbollah operative also said that Nasrallah survived the attack.

People inspect damage at the site of an Israeli attack amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon September 27, 2024. (Credit: REUTERS/Mohamed AZAKIR)

“Hezbollah’s headquarters was deliberately constructed under residential buildings in the heart of Beirut’s Dahiyeh as part of Hezbollah’s strategy to use Lebanese as human shields,” said IDF spokesman R.-Adm. explained Daniel Hagari in an evening speech.

Hagari said that the attacked building was the epicenter of Hezbollah’s terrorist activities.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was at the Israeli Air Force (IAF) command and control center at the time of the attack, where he oversaw the attack on Hezbollah headquarters, the Defense Ministry said.

Other senior officials, including IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and the IAF commander, were also present.

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cut short his trip to New York and plans to leave for Israel on Shabbat Friday evening after the IDF attacked Beirut and targeted Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

After assessing the situation after the attack, the IDF emphasized that it was prepared in all areas of attack and defense. A senior security official told Army Radio that no one at Hezbollah headquarters would make it out alive and that they were closely monitoring developments in Beirut.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant at the IAF Command and Control Center, where he closely followed the attack on Hezbollah headquarters on September 27, 2024. (Source: ARIEL HERMONI / MINISTRY OF DEFENSE)

The IDF added that there were no changes to the Home Front Command’s instructions.

According to Israeli sources, Israel had recently informed the US of the attack and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu authorized the attack from New York.

The Pentagon later said the U.S. had no advance warning of an Israeli attack in Beirut and that U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart during the ongoing operation, Reuters reported. Later, US President Joe Biden also said that he did not know beforehand that the attack would occur.

“After almost a year in which Hezbollah fired missiles, rockets and suicide drones at Israeli civilians, after almost a year in which Israel warned the world and told them that Hezbollah must be stopped, Israel is doing what every sovereign state does in the world would do if “They had a terrorist organization seeking their destruction on their border and taking the necessary measures to protect our people so that Israeli families can live safely and securely in their homes,” Hagari said in his Speech.

IDF spokesman R. Admiral Daniel Hagari announces that the IDF attacked Hezbollah headquarters in Beirut. September 27, 2024. (Source: IDF Spokesperson Unit)

In response to the Israeli attack on Nasrallah, the Iranian embassy in Beirut released a statement on X/Twitter calling the attack “a bloody massacre” and adding that it was “a serious escalation that changed the rules of the game and brought the perpetrator to justice.” suitable.”

Successive air strikes

The IDF targeted Beirut shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to continue Israeli attacks on Hezbollah.

The southern suburbs of Beirut were hit by back-to-back airstrikes, Hezbollah affiliate Al Manar TV reported. South Beirut is known as a Hezbollah stronghold, and the Israeli Air Force struck the area last week, targeting 16 Hezbollah commanders, including Radwan Force commander Ibrahim Aqil. In another attack in the southern part of the city, Israel eliminated the head of Hezbollah’s drone unit, Muhammad Hossein Sarur.

Many ambulances and civil defense vehicles arrived at the sites of several exploded buildings.

This is a developing story.

Tovah Lazaroff and Reuters contributed to this report.



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