Israel Kills Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut Airstrike, Hezbollah Vows Retaliation

Israel killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike on his underground headquarters in Beirut on Friday, with the Israel Defense Forces saying he was “advancing terrorist activities against the citizens of the State of Israel.”

“The leader of the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli airstrike”

CNN

CNN reports Nasrallah died when Israeli fighter jets struck an area of the capital’s southern suburbs known as Dahiyeh, and Hezbollah described him as a “sacred martyr” and vowed to continue its fight against Israel.C

Al-Jazeera Net

In Lebanon, Prime Minister Najib Mikati declared three days of mourning, while Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei declared five days of national mourning and warned that Israel faces “crushing blows” to come.

The Hezbollah-owned Al-Manar TV channel switched to Quranic recitations, and CNN says Hamas issued a statement mourning Nasrallah as did other regional allies.C

CNN also says Israeli bombs in Lebanon have since killed at least 700 people and nearly 120,000 others have been displaced, according to the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).C

After Nasrallah’s killing, Anadolu Ajansı reported that Iran and Hezbollah carried out simultaneous retaliatory strikes overnight from Saturday to Sunday, targeting the Israeli regions of the Negev and the Galilee.

Anadolu Ajansı says missiles originating in Iran were detected and alarm sirens sounded in the Negev region, which it describes as including the Dimona nuclear plant, while Hezbollah launched a rocket attack against northern Israel.

Al-Jazeera Net

CNN describes Hezbollah’s response as “relatively contained,” citing Israeli officials who said nearly all of Hezbollah’s senior commanders had been killed and that Israeli airstrikes had debilitated much of the operational infrastructure Hezbollah would use for retaliation.C

In Lebanon, Al-Manar TV Lebanon’s Hezbollah Military Media declared 14 operations against Israeli targets since midnight, and an Al-Manar correspondent reported a second Israeli strike on Dallafeh Bridge linking villages in southern Lebanon to Western Bekaa.

Anadolu Ajansı adds that the Iranian missiles, Hezbollah’s rockets and drones would have been intercepted by Israeli air defense systems, according to Israeli Channel 12 TV.

As the conflict widened, Haaretz reported that the Lebanese Ministry of Health announced 27 people were killed and 105 were wounded in Israeli attacks in the past 24 hours, and that the number of people killed in Lebanon since the beginning of the war stands at 1,345.

“Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem”

Haaretz

Haaretz also says Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem, saying he will “pay a very heavy price” for increased missile strikes at Israel during Passover.

The Times of Israel reported that Hezbollah fired around 80 rockets at north on 1st day of Passover, with Magen David Adom saying two people were lightly injured when a rocket struck a building in Kiryat Shmona.

In southern Lebanon, Haaretz says Israeli forces advanced deeper into southern Lebanon, reaching a section of the Litani river, and IDF troops seized the second line of border villages about 8-10 kilometers into Lebanon.

CNN says OCHA reported nearly 120,000 displaced people in Lebanon and that the UN said Israeli bombs in Lebanon have killed at least 700 people, while the Times of Israel says the IDF is establishing a demilitarized “security zone” in southern Lebanon up to the Litani River. C