By Ari Rabinovitch and Maya Gebeily
JERUSALEM/BEIRUT (Reuters) -Israel said on Saturday it had killed Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike in Beirut’s southern suburbs a day earlier in what would be a devastating blow to the group as it reels from an escalating campaign of Israeli attacks.
Reuters could not immediately reach Hezbollah officials for comment. The Iran-backed Hezbollah has yet to issue any statement on the status of Nasrallah, its leader for 32 years.
If confirmed, Nasrallah’s death would mark a major blow not only to Hezbollah but also to Iran. He has long been a towering figure in the Tehran-backed “Axis of Resistance”, helping to project Iranian influence across the Middle East.
The Israeli military said that Nasrallah was eliminated in a “targeted strike” on the group’s underground headquarters beneath a residential building in Dahiyeh – a Hezbollah-controlled southern suburb of Beirut.
It said he was killed along with another top Hezbollah leader, Ali Karaki, and other commanders.
“The strike was conducted while Hezbollah’s senior chain of command were operating from the headquarters and advancing terrorist activities against the citizens of the State of Israel,” it said.
Friday’s airstrike on Dahiyeh shook Beirut. A security source in Lebanon said the attack – a quick succession of massively powerful blasts – had left a crater at least 20 meters deep.
It was followed on Saturday by further airstrikes on Dahiyeh and other parts of Lebanon. Huge explosions lit up the night sky, and more strikes hit the area in the morning. Smoke rose over the city.
Residents have fled Dahiyeh, seeking shelter in downtown Beirut and other parts of the city.
“Yesterday’s strikes were unbelievable. We had fled before and then went back to our homes, but then the bombing got more and more intense, so we came here, waiting for Netanyahu to stop the bombing,” said Dalal Daher, speaking near Beirut’s Martyrs Square, where some of the displaced were camping out.
She was refering to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Hezbollah also continued its cross-border rocket fire, setting off sirens and sending residents running for shelter deep inside Israel. Israeli missile defences blocked some of them and there was no immediate report of injuries.
The escalation has increased fears the conflict could spin out of control, potentially drawing in Iran, Hezbollah’s principal backer, as well as the United States.
Late on Friday, a source close to Hezbollah told Reuters that Nasrallah was not reachable.
In the first hours after Friday’s strike, a source close to Hezbollah told Reuters that Nasrallah was alive. Iran’s Tasnim news agency also reported he was safe. A senior Iranian security official told Reuters that Tehran was checking his status.
LEBANON ASKS IRANIAN PLANE NOT TO LAND
Lebanon’s transport and public works ministry asked an Iranian plane not to enter Lebanese airspace after Israel warned on Friday air traffic control at the Beirut airport that it would use “force” if the plane landed, a source at the Lebanese transport ministry told Reuters. The source said it was not clear what was on the plane, adding: “The priority is people”.
Late on Friday, Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Israeli air force planes were “patrolling the area of the Beirut airport” and would not allow “hostile flights with weapons to land” there.
“We know about Iranian arms transfers to Hezbollah and are thwarting them,” he said.
Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets and missiles at targets in Israel, including Tel Aviv. The group said it had fired more on Saturday. Israel’s air defence systems have ensured the damage has so far been minimal.
The Israeli military said the country is on high alert for a broader conflict and it hoped Nasrallah’s reported death would cause the group to change course.
“We hope this will change Hezbollah’s actions,” Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said in a media briefing. But he said it would still take time to degrade Hezbollah’s capabilities.
“We’ve seen Hezbollah carry out attacks against us for a year. It’s safe to assume that they are going to continue carrying out their attacks against us or try to,” he said.
Hours before the latest barrage, Netanyahu told the United Nations that his country had a right to continue the campaign.
“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,” he said.
Several delegations walked out as Netanyahu approached the lectern. He later cut short his New York trip to return to Israel.
EVACUATION WARNING
Lebanese health authorities confirmed six dead and 91 wounded in the initial attack on Friday – the fourth on Beirut’s Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs in a week and the heaviest since a 2006 war.
The toll appeared likely to rise much higher. There was no word on casualties from the later strikes. Israeli strikes have killed more than 700 people this past week, Lebanese authorities said.
Late on Friday, the Israeli military told residents in some parts of Dahiyeh to evacuate, saying it would target missile launchers and weapons storage sites it said were under civilian housing.
Hezbollah denied any weapons or arms depots were located in buildings that were hit in the Beirut suburbs, the group’s media office said.
Alaa al-Din Saeed, a resident of a neighbourhood that Israel identified as a target, was fleeing with his wife and three children.
“We found out on the television. There was a huge commotion in the neighbourhood,” he said. The family grabbed clothes, identification papers and some cash but were stuck in traffic with others trying to flee.
“We’re going to the mountains. We’ll see how to spend the night – and tomorrow we’ll see what we can do.”
The number of people in Lebanon displaced by the conflict now stands at well over 200,000.
Israel says its aim is to allow tens of thousands of residents evacuated from communities in northern Israel to return to their homes safely.
(Reporting by Maya Gebeily, Timour Azhari, Laila Bassam in Beirut; James Mackenzie and Ari Rabinovitch in Jerusalem, Jana Choukeir, Nadine Awadalla, Adam Makary, Jaidaa Taha in Dubai, Writing by Tom Perry, Editing by Frances Kerry and Angus MacSwan)
