Hassan Nasrallah, the longtime leader of Hezbollah, was killed in an Israeli airstrike last year while directing operations from the group’s war room, according to a senior Hezbollah official, as per news agency AP. Wafiq Safa, a key figure in the organisation, disclosed on Sunday that Nasrallah was inside the underground operations room in Beirut’s southern suburbs when the strikes occurred on September 27, 2023.
Israeli airstrikes that day destroyed multiple buildings in the area, killing Nasrallah and five others, according to the Lebanese health ministry. The attack marked a critical turning point, escalating months of low-level conflict into a full-scale war that ravaged parts of Lebanon until a fragile US-brokered ceasefire was reached on November 27, 2023.
“He led the battle and the war from this very location,” Safa stated during a press conference near the site of the strike.
Israel initially declared Nasrallah’s death via a military spokesperson, who hailed the airstrike as ending decades of what it described as terrorism orchestrated by the Hezbollah leader. Nasrallah, who led the organisation for 32 years, had shaped it into a formidable political and militant entity, deeply entrenched in Lebanon’s politics and a central adversary of Israel.
The ceasefire agreement reached after the conflict mandates Hezbollah’s withdrawal north of the Litani River and the dismantling of its military infrastructure in southern Lebanon.
However, tensions remain high. Israeli defence minister Israel Katz accused Hezbollah of failing to meet the terms of the agreement, warning of potential military action if compliance is not ensured. Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem countered with threats of renewed strikes should Israeli forces fail to withdraw fully from southern Lebanon by the end of January.
The ceasefire remains precarious, with both sides trading accusations of violations. The United Nations peacekeeping force has been tasked with monitoring the situation, but sporadic skirmishes and overflights suggest the underlying conflict is far from resolved.
