New Delhi:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday confirmed that he personally authorised the operation to eliminate Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut. The 64-year-old Nasrallah was killed as Israeli strikes targeted dozens of Hezbollah sites in eastern and southern Lebanon following intense rocket fire by the group into northern Israel. Israeli jets bombarded Hezbollah strongholds in southern Beirut overnight, flattening several residential buildings.

Netanyahu termed Nasrallah’s death as a critical achievement in Israel’s military strategy and as a step toward restoring security along Israel’s northern borders.

Addressing his country following Nasrallah’s killing, Netanyahu said that Nasrallah had been responsible for orchestrating numerous attacks on Israelis and foreign nationals, including high-profile bombings in the 1980s. 

These attacks included the 1983 bombings in Beirut that killed 63 people at the US embassy and hundreds of US Marines and French paratroopers. Netanyahu said that “terrorist” Nasrallah’s death was vital for degrading Hezbollah’s capabilities, stating, “As long as Nasrallah was alive, he would quickly restore the capabilities we had eroded from Hezbollah.”

“We settled the score with the one responsible for the murder of countless Israelis and many citizens of other countries, including hundreds of Americans and dozens of French,” he said 

READ | Hezbollah Chief Killed In Israel Strike: “Will No Longer Terrorise The World”

The Israeli Prime Minister pointed to the elimination of Nasrallah as a turning point that would accelerate the return of northern Israeli residents who had fled due to cross-border fire and further weaken Hamas, Hezbollah’s ally in Gaza. “The more [Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar sees that Hezbollah is no longer coming to save him, the greater the chances for the return of our hostages,” Netanyahu said, referring to the ongoing efforts to secure the release of Israelis captured by Hamas during its October 7 attack.

Netanyahu praised Israel’s military and intelligence agencies, including the IDF, Mossad, and Shin Bet, for executing the operation. “We are winning,” he said.

READ | Hassan Nasrallah Is Dead. This Cleric Is Now Tipped To Lead Hezbollah

Netanyahu used Nasrallah’s death as an opportunity to warn Iran. He said that Israel’s reach extends across the region, including Iran, and made clear that the killing of Nasrallah should serve as a message to Tehran and its proxies. “There is nowhere in Iran or the Middle East beyond the reach of the long arm of Israel, and today you know how true that is,” he said. “I say to the Ayatollah’s regime: whoever beat us, we will beat them.”

Concluding his message, Netanyahu called this period a “historic turning point” and reaffirmed his commitment to the safe return of displaced residents and the recovery of hostages. He ended with a pledge of unity: “We will fight together, and with God’s help, we will win together.”

“We are determined to continue to strike at our enemies, return our residents to their homes, and return all our abductees. We do not forget them for a moment,” he said. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday (September 28, 2024) that Israel had “settled the score” with the killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in an air strike in Beirut.

“We settled the score with the one responsible for the murder of countless Israelis and many citizens of other countries, including hundreds of Americans and dozens of French,” he said in his first statement since Nasrallah’s death on Friday.

He was alluding to 1983 bombings in Beirut that killed 63 people at the US embassy and 241 US marines and 58 French paratroopers at their barracks.

Netanyahu said that as long as “terrorist” Nasrallah was alive, he “would quickly restore the capabilities we had eroded from Hezbollah” in a series of recent operations.

“So, I gave the order — and Nasrallah is no longer with us.”

The Israeli premier said his country was on the cusp of “what appears to be a historic turning point” in the fight against its “enemies”.

According to Netanyahu, who has faced growing criticism at home and abroad over his war policy after nearly a year of fighting in the Gaza Strip, the killing of the Hezbollah leader was essential for achieving Israel’s goals.

“Nasrallah’s elimination is a necessary condition for achieving the goals we set: the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes and the long-term alteration of the balance of power in the region,” he said.

It will also help facilitate the return of hostages seized by Hamas during its October 7 attack and still held in Gaza, he said.

“The more (Hamas leader Yahya) Sinwar sees that Hezbollah will no longer come to his aid, the greater the chances of returning our captives,” Netanyahu said.

“We are winning. We are determined to continue striking our enemies, returning our residents to their homes and bringing back all our hostages. We do not forget them for a moment.”

An image of the late leader of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah with a black stripe for mourning is displayed on a television set airing a broadcast from the private Lebanese station NBN in Beirut on September 28, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Palestinian militant group Hamas said on Saturday (September 28, 2024) it mourned Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah following his killing in an Israeli airstrike, saying his death would only fuel the fight against Israel.

“Crimes and assassination by the occupation will only increase the determination and the insistence of the resistance in Palestine and Lebanon to go forward with all their might, bravery and pride on the footsteps of the martyrs…and pursue the path of resistance until victory and the dismissal of the occupation,” Hamas said in a statement.

His death marks a heavy blow to Hezbollah as it reels from an escalating campaign of Israeli attacks. It is also a huge blow to Iran, given the major role he has played in the Tehran-backed regional “Axis of Resistance.”

Israeli airstrikes LIVE updates: Hezbollah confirms leader Nasrallah killed; vows to continue battle

The ‘Axis of Resistance’ refers to groups including Hezbollah that are backed by Iran and have been waging attacks on Israel since war erupted between their ally Hamas and Israel on October 7.

“We reaffirm our absolute solidarity and standing with the brothers in Hezbollah and the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon, who are taking part in the battle of the Al-Aqsa Flood to defend Al-Aqsa mosque, alongside our people and our resistance,” Hamas added.

Islamic Jihad, another Iranian-backed Palestinian group, said in a statement: “Sooner or later, the resistance forces in Lebanon, Palestine, and the region will make the enemy pay the price of its crimes, and taste defeat for what its sinful hands have done.”

Gaza has a population of 2.3 million people, most of whom have been internally displaced by the war, which has killed 41,500 of them, according to Gaza health authorities.

Israel and Hamas have been fighting since gunmen from the Palestinian militant group stormed into southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and capturing some 250 hostages, by Israeli tallies.

Asked how Nasrallah’s death would affect the fight against Israel, senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters: “The assassination of Hassan Nasrallah will not break the will of the resistance and we are confident that the occupation will lose the battle,” said Abu Zuhri.

Iran says Hezbollah leader’s ‘path to continue’ despite his killing

Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Saturday (September 28, 2024) the path of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah will continue despite his killing.

“The glorious path of the leader of the resistance, Hassan Nasrallah, will continue and his sacred goal will be realised in the liberation of Quds (Jerusalem), God willing,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said in a post on social media X, mourning Nasrallah’s death.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah group, armed and financed by Iran, on Saturday (September 28, 2024) confirmed Nasrallah had been killed, after Israel said it had “eliminated” him in an air strike a day earlier.

The statement confirmed he was killed with other group members “following the treacherous Zionist strike on the southern suburbs” of Beirut.

Iranian Vice-President Mohammad Javad Zarif also expressed his condolences, praising Nasrallah as a “symbol of the fight against oppression.”

Hezbollah is listed as terrorist group by the United States.

A black flag for mourning was hoisted at the Shiite Islam holy Imam Reza shrine in Iran’s northeastern city Mashhad, according to the local Tasnim news agency.

Mourners gathered there, waving yellow Hezbollah banners, along with Iranian flags as they chanted, “Death to Israel,” state TV showed.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry gave a preliminary toll of six dead and 91 wounded from the latest strikes on Beirut’s densely populated southern suburbs since Friday (September 28, 2024), the fiercest to hit Hezbollah’s stronghold since Israel and the group last went to war in 2006.

Earlier on Saturday (September 28, 2024), Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei condemned what he called an Israeli “massacre” in Lebanon and lambasted the “shortsighted” Israeli policy.

Tehran:

Iran’s foreign ministry said Saturday the path of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah will continue despite his killing in an Israeli air strike in Beirut, after a year of cross-border clashes between the two sides.

“The glorious path of the leader of the resistance, Hassan Nasrallah, will continue and his sacred goal will be realised in the liberation of Quds (Jerusalem), God willing,” foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said in a post on social media X, mourning Nasrallah’s death.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah group, armed and financed by Iran, on Saturday confirmed Nasrallah had been killed, after Israel said it had “eliminated” him in an air strike a day earlier.

The statement confirmed he was killed with other group members “following the treacherous Zionist strike on the southern suburbs” of Beirut.

Iranian vice president Mohammad Javad Zarif also expressed his condolences, praising Nasrallah as a “symbol of the fight against oppression.”

Hezbollah is listed as terrorist group by the United States.

A black flag for mourning was hoisted at the Shiite Islam holy Imam Reza shrine in Iran’s northeastern city Mashhad, according to the local Tasnim news agency.

Mourners gathered there, waving yellow Hezbollah banners, along with Iranian flags as they chanted, “Death to Israel,” state TV showed.

Lebanon’s health ministry gave a preliminary death count of six dead and 91 wounded from the latest strikes on Beirut’s densely populated southern suburbs since Friday, the fiercest to hit Hezbollah’s stronghold since Israel and the group last went to war in 2006.

Earlier on Saturday, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei condemned what he called an Israeli “massacre” in Lebanon and lambasted the “shortsighted” Israeli policy.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)