Israel steps up Lebanon strikes, suspense over Hezbollah chief’s fate

Israel continued to pound Lebanon with a series of massive airstrikes on Saturday after bombing the central headquarters of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group in a densely populated area of the capital Beirut, in an apparent bid to eliminate its powerful leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Israeli officials are assessing whether Nasrallah was killed in the strike, though they believe it is unlikely he survived. However, within hours of the attack, a Hezbollah spokesperson said Nasrallah was unharmed.
“His Eminence the Secretary-General is fine and well and was not in the targeted location,” the group’s Media Relations Officer Hajj Muhammad Afif said on Iranian television, as reported by NBC News.
Israeli airstrikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs, with the Israeli military confirming that multiple buildings were struck in Dahiyeh, a known Hezbollah stronghold. Four buildings were reportedly destroyed in the strikes, which rocked the city with powerful blasts, leaving several large craters and damaging surrounding structures.

People inspect damage at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut’s southern suburbs. (Image: Reuters)

Search and rescue operations continued through the night, with Lebanon’s health ministry reporting at least nine people dead and over 90 wounded in the aftermath. Civilians fled their homes and slept in the streets due to the wave of airstrikes.
The strikes were aimed at senior Hezbollah commanders. There were unverified reports that the militant group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was at the headquarters when the attack happened, after which he was “unreachable”. The militant group, however, denied this.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said several Hezbollah commanders and operatives were killed in the strikes. Among them were Muhammad Ali Ismail, the chief of Hezbollah’s missile unit, and his deputy.
Friday’s airstrikes, which come amid efforts by the US and France to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, marks an escalation in the hostilities which broke out nearly a year ago. It also comes against the backdrop of Israel upping its offensive against Hezbollah this month, including targeted killing of the militants via exploding modified pagers and walkie-talkies.
Moments before buildings were flattened in Beirut, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was addressing the United Nations General Assembly. Enough is enough, Netanyahu said emphatically, adding that Israel had been “tolerating this intolerable situation for nearly a year”.
“As long as Hezbollah chooses the path of war, Israel has no choice, and Israel has every right to remove this threat and return our citizens to their homes safely,” Netanyahu said.
Not long after that, multiple blasts rocked Beirut. Explosions continued in the Lebanese capital throughout the morning.
In a sign of further escalation, the Israeli military urged residents of Beirut neighbourhoods with Hezbollah assets and facilities to evacuate.
“We will continue operating to precisely dismantle Hezbollah’s offensive capabilities,” the IDF said. “Hezbollah has strategically embedded weapons in civilian areas, putting Lebanese civilians at risk in order to harm Israeli civilians.”
Israel’s military also launched a new round of airstrikes in Lebanon’s Beqaa region, according to a statement on Saturday morning.
The ongoing conflict between Hezbollah and Israel has its roots in long-standing geopolitical and territorial tensions, which have only intensified over the past year since Israel launched extensive military operations in Gaza.
The latest bout of violence, sparked by Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon, has resulted in the deaths of over 500 people, including women and children. Hezbollah has retaliated with rocket fire, targeting Israeli airbases. These skirmishes have been almost constant since October 2023, as Hezbollah declared solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, responding to Israel’s military operations.
Hezbollah has made it clear that its ongoing attacks are conditional on Israel’s actions in Gaza. Israel, for its part, has ramped up its military operations along the Lebanon-Israel border, launching thousands of attacks, far outnumbering Hezbollah’s retaliation.
The ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces escalated earlier this month. In a deadly covert operation, thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies were detonated in two days, leaving at least 37 people dead and injuring around 3,000 across Lebanon.
A Hezbollah official called the detonation of the pagers the “biggest security breach” the group had suffered. While the Lebanese government and Iran-backed Hezbollah blamed Israel for the explosions, the Israeli military declined to comment on the deadly attack.
Amid fears of a wider regional conflict, the US and France tried to broker a 21-day temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. However, the hopes of a ceasefire looked to be fading after the airstrikes on Beirut on Friday.
While the attacks in Lebanon has so far been confined to aerial attacks, Israel’s military on Friday also deployed additional tanks and armoured vehicles along its northern border with Lebanon, signalling preparations for an significant ground invasion to dismantle Hezbollah and its network.