Murdered by Israeli Air Strike - Nasrallah Confirmed Killed in Beirut

Biden Backs Israel's Assassination Of Nasrallah, Hailing 'Justice' Served, As Russia Warns Of Bigger War

Update(1340ET): The White House has finally put out a statement by early Saturday afternoon. President Biden has called Nasrallah's death 'justice' for the hundreds of Americans who perished over what the US called a 'four-decade reign of terror'.

"Hassan Nasrallah and the terrorist group he led, Hezbollah, were responsible for killing hundreds of Americans over a four-decade reign of terror.  His death from an Israeli airstrike is a measure of justice for his many victims, including thousands of Americans, Israelis, and Lebanese civilians," Biden said. The White House says the Pentagon has been ordered to enhance America's defense posture and readiness in the Middle East.

Biden has further repeated that the US "fully supports Israel's right to defend itself"...

"The US fully supports Israel's right to defend itself against Hezbollah. I have ordered Defense Secretary Austin to increase US forces in the Middle East to deter aggression from Iran and its proxies and reduce the danger of a wider regional war," Biden said.

Politico and some other publications have said the assassination of Nasrallah, apparently without US knowledge (that's the current official line anyway), has put more distance between Biden and Netanyahu. "Biden administration officials were trying to figure out how to publicly respond Saturday to confirmation that Israel had killed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group," the publication said. 

"The initial reaction from inside the White House was positive, even though U.S. officials had been trying to convince Israel to pause its operations against Hezbollah, according to two senior administration officials," it added.

Russia's reaction has been the opposite, with the foreign ministry saying, "This forceful action is fraught with even greater dramatic consequences for Lebanon and the entire Middle East."

"The Israeli side could not fail to recognize this danger, but took the step of killing Lebanese citizens, which would almost inevitably provoke a new outburst of violence. Thus, it bears full responsibility for the subsequent escalation," the Russian statement said.

This is pretty simple. If you don't want someone to do something, you don't give them the means to do it. One must therefore conclude the US government does not object to what Israel has been doing for the past year.

— Stephen Walt (@stephenWalt) September 28, 2024

Meanwhile, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - who has been transferred to a secretive and secure location - has declared five days of public mourning for Hassan Nasrallah.

"I … offer my condolences for the martyrdom of the great Nasrallah and his martyred companions and announce five days of public mourning in Islamic Iran," Khamenei said according to the official IRNA news agency.

* * *

On Saturday Hezbollah has finally issued confirmation via its Al-Manar television channel that Hassan Nasrallah, the Lebanese Shia group's leader for 32 years, has been killed in Friday's major Israeli airstrikes on the Dahieh suburb of Beirut.

The group said in the statement of the slain Secretary-General, "His eminence, the master of resistance, the righteous servant, has passed away to be with his lord who is pleased with him as a great martyr."

Via Reuters

"The leadership of Hezbollah pledges ... to continue its jihad in confronting the enemy [Israel], supporting Gaza and Palestine, and defending Lebanon and its steadfast and honorable people," it added.

There was nothing further detailed as to precisely how the group would respond, only that it plans to continue its fight against Israel. No doubt it could take some time before it regroups, as likely many more of its commanders were taken out in the large-scale strikes which utterly destroyed multiple large buildings Friday.

Within hours prior to Hezbollah finally confirming and announcing the monumental development which will send shockwaves through the Arab world, the Israel Defense Forces issued a statement proclaiming: "Hassan Nasrallah will no longer be able to terrorize the world."

PM Netanyahu had ordered or monitored the strike from New York, after just stepping away from a speech before the United Nations General Assembly:

Overnight it was clear something major was brewing given there was an emergency meeting in Tehran of top national security officials chaired by the Ayatollah in the wake of the Dahieh bombings. Within the last hours Reuters has reported that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been "transferred to a secure location inside the country with heightened security measures in place," according to Iranian security officials.

American-supplied heavy bombs were likely used in the strikes that killed Nasrallah: 

Israel media says about 85 so-called “bunker-buster” bombs were used. Also known as “ground penetration munition”, these missiles burrow deep into the ground before they detonate.

They have the power to destroy underground facilities and reinforced concrete buildings. The bombs each weigh between 2,000 and 4,000 pounds.

Nasrallah has loomed large in the last decades of Middle East conflict and politics, having founded Hezbollah in 1982 and spending his life transforming it into a fierce guerrilla warfare group which has became Israel's number one regional foe (alongside Hamas).

Hamas published condolences:

⚡️Hamas Publishes:

“Your soul lives on” pic.twitter.com/v9kb5i096O

— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) September 28, 2024

Below is the full Hamas statement as translated and published in Al Jazeera:

"We extend our sincere condolences, sympathy and solidarity to the brotherly Lebanese people and brothers in Hezbollah and the Islamic resistance in Lebanon."

"We condemn in the strongest terms this barbaric Zionist aggression and the targeting of residential buildings … in the southern suburb of Beirut, and we consider this a cowardly act of terrorism, a massacre and a heinous crime, which proves once again the bloodiness and brutality of this occupation."

Hamas further said that Hezbollah has a whole line-up of leaders waiting to take up the mantle of war against Israel: "History has proven that the resistance against the Zionist enemy, in all its factions and places of presence, whenever its leaders go as martyrs, has a generation of leaders to lead them on the same path," the statement concluded.

It is well-known that the group has also long been supported by Iran, from where it receives much of its most sophisticated surface-to-surface missiles, including ballistic missiles.

⚡️From the strikes on Beirut now pic.twitter.com/tZ0ZjLcxf7

— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) September 27, 2024

Israel had kept its airstrikes on Beirut going throughout the night, even after the attack which killed Nasrallah and many top commanders, while civilians desperately fled the southern suburbs. 

developing...

Murdered by Israeli Air Strike - Nasrallah Confirmed Killed in Beirut

Sayad Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the political party Hezballah, in Lebanon, has been confirmed as having been killed by barbaric Israeli Air Strikes upon residential apartment buildings in Beirut, Lebanon.

Hezballah made the announcement: "The party of God (Hezb-Allah) announces the martyrdom of the secretary general, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah."

Full Statement issued by Hezb-Allah:

“In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful {So let those fight in the way of Allah who exchange the life of this world for the Hereafter. And whoever fights in the way of Allah and is killed or victorious - We will give him a great reward.} God Almighty is true.

His Eminence, the Master of Resistance, the righteous servant, has passed away to be with his Lord and to His pleasure as a great martyr, a heroic, daring, brave, wise, insightful, and faithful leader, joining the caravan of martyrs of the eternal, luminous Karbala in the divine, faith-based path in the footsteps of the prophets and martyred imams. His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Secretary General of Hezbollah, has joined his great and immortal martyred comrades, whose path he led for nearly thirty years, during which he led them from victory to victory, succeeding the Master of the Martyrs of the Islamic Resistance in 1992 until the liberation of Lebanon in 2000 and to the glorious divine victory in 2006 and all the battles of honor and sacrifice, arriving at the battle of support and heroism in support of Palestine, Gaza, and the oppressed Palestinian people.

We offer our condolences to the Master of the Age (may God hasten his reappearance), the Guardian of the Muslims, Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei, may his shadow endure, the great authorities, the mujahideen, the believers, the nation of resistance, our patient and struggling Lebanese people, the entire Islamic nation, all the free and oppressed people in the world, and his honorable and patient family. We congratulate His Eminence the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, may God be pleased with him, on receiving the highest divine medal, the Imam Hussein Medal, peace be upon him, fulfilling his most precious wishes and the highest ranks of faith and pure belief, as a martyr on the path of Jerusalem and Palestine.

We offer our condolences and congratulations to his fellow martyrs who joined his pure and holy procession following the treacherous Zionist raid on the southern suburb.

The leadership of Hezbollah pledges to the highest, most sacred and most precious martyr in our journey full of sacrifices and martyrs that it will continue its jihad in confronting the enemy, in support of Gaza and Palestine, and in defense of Lebanon and its steadfast and honorable people.

To the honorable mujahideen and the victorious and triumphant heroes of the Islamic Resistance, you are the trust of the martyred Sayyid, and you are his brothers who were his impregnable shield and the jewel in the crown of heroism and sacrifice. Our leader, His Eminence, is still among us with his thought, spirit, line, and sacred approach, and you are committed to the pledge of loyalty and commitment to resistance and sacrifice until victory.

Saturday 9-28-2024

24 Rabi` al-Awwal 1446 AH”

In an incredibly raw moment, our dear friend Marwa Osman is informed of the death of Seyed Nasrallah while live on RT. Our hearts go out to our dear friends and heroes in Lebanon.

Iran's Supreme Leader Moved to Secure Location Under Heavy Guard

The Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran, has been moved to a Secure Location under heavy guard.  This is being widely interpreted as a prelude to Iran launching attacks upon Israel in retaliation for the air-strike-murder of Hezballah Leader Sayyad Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, Lebanon, yesterday.

This movement is a counter measure that was only considered and planned in case of a full scale war with Israel or US.

Israeli Air Force planes launched a barbaric strike upon six (6) apartment blocks in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, using ground-penetrating "Bunker Buster" bombs at either 4,000 pounds or 2,000 pounds, each.

Entire apartment buildings collapsed into in piles of dusty rubble, with fires burning beneath them underground.

Hundreds of innocent families who lived in those apartment buildings are either trapped in the rubble, dying - or already dead.

This latest act of war by Israel, against Lebanon, has put the entire Middle East on the brink of war.

Israel has been waging undeclared war upon Lebanon for over a week, with air strikes against all manner of civilian targets, which Israel claims - without evidence or proof - are Hezballah weapons locations.

The air strikes came after Israel detonated pocket-pagers, cell phones, and walkie-talkies they sabotaged with explosives placed inside battery packs.

The Israeli savages, who exhibit the behavior of lowly, dirty, murderous, beasts, continue their attacks upon people in several neighboring countries, who object to the ongoing Israeli theft of Palestinian homes and land.

Israel to invade Lebanon – media

A senior US official confirmed West Jerusalem’s plans to ABC

The Israel Defense Force (IDF) plans to soon enter southern Lebanon, ABC News reported on Saturday, citing an unnamed senior US official. The US outlet described the supposed operation as “very limited” but provided few details about its nature or when it may begin.

On Wednesday, the IDF chief of staff, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, announced a potential ground operation in the neighboring state as he talked to troops stationed at Israel’s northern border. The airstrikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon over the past week were in particular aimed at preparing the area “for the possibility of your entry,” the general told the troops.

According to Halevi, Israel was still seeking to return displaced residents from the northern regions to their homes. “To do this, we are preparing the [ground] maneuver,” the general said, without revealing a time frame for the operation.

Hezbollah leader eliminated – Israel

“You will go in, destroy the enemy there, and decisively destroy their infrastructure,” Halevi said, adding that Hezbollah had supposedly turned villages into “large military outposts, with underground infrastructure, staging points, and launch pads into our territory.”

Israel and Hezbollah have sporadically exchanged fire over the past year, as the latter has supported the Palestinian cause in light of West Jerusalem’s military operation against Hamas.

West Jerusalem drastically escalated its campaign against the Shia militia earlier this month, wounding thousands in a sabotage operation targeting the group’s handheld communication devices and subsequently bombarding southern Lebanon with airstrikes. The Israeli attacks have claimed at least 1,300 lives, according to the Lebanese health authorities.

Russia condemns Israeli attacks on Lebanon

The ABC report came just a day after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in a large Israeli airstrike targeting what was described as the group’s main headquarters in the southern suburb of the Lebanese capital of Beirut. The militia confirmed its leader’s death early on Saturday. No successor to Nasrallah has been named.

West Jerusalem stated later on Saturday that almost all of Hezbollah’s military leaders had been eliminated. It also shared a list of a dozen top commanders of the militia killed over the past few weeks.

Washington reacted to Nasrallah’s death by calling it “a measure of justice for his many victims, including thousands of Americans, Israelis, and Lebanese civilians.” It also reiterated its full support for West Jerusalem’s “right to defend itself” but also stated that the US sought to “de-escalate” the conflict.

Russia condemned the Israeli attacks in Lebanon, warning that such actions risk plunging the entire Middle East into a “big war.”