A senior Hezbollah official revealed that leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike last year while in the group's war operations room. This claim, made Sunday, sheds new light on the September 2023 attacks in Beirut's southern suburbs.
The airstrikes, which reportedly targeted a meeting of senior officials, including Nasrallah, resulted in several casualties, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. The incident escalated tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, sparking a two-month conflict that ravaged parts of Lebanon before a ceasefire took effect in November.
Nasrallah's death, coming after 32 years of leadership, significantly impacted the conflict's trajectory. A senior Hezbollah security official, Wafiq Safa, confirmed Nasrallah's demise inside the operations room during a Sunday news conference near the site of the attack. Safa offered no further details.
Meanwhile, the ongoing ceasefire negotiations are fraught with complexities. Hezbollah, in a televised address, warned Israel of potential retaliatory strikes if its troops did not withdraw from southern Lebanon by the end of the month. Negotiations led by Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein are ongoing, with the possibility of further talks with the US expected soon.
The Lebanese government, alongside Hezbollah, have expressed concerns about ongoing Israeli military activities over Lebanese territory and the slow withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanese villages. Conversely, Israel has accused Hezbollah of not fully dismantling its infrastructure as per the ceasefire terms. Lebanese military deployment in the south, alongside UN peacekeepers, is intended to ensure a stable transition.
