Chris McGrath
- Israel said on Saturday that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah had been killed.
- Hezbollah has since confirmed the news.
- Nasrallah had led the Iran-backed group since 1992.
Israel said on Saturday that Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah had been killed in a targeted strike on the group's central headquarters in Beirut.
Hezbollah has since confirmed the news of his death in a statement, in which it warned that it would "continue its jihad in confronting the enemy, in support of Gaza and Palestine, and in defense of Lebanon."
It marks the end of Nasrallah's 32-year reign at the helm of Hezbollah and will come as a major blow to the group.
Born in 1960 in eastern Beirut, Nasrallah would go on to become a skillful guerilla commander before establishing himself as a popular political figure in Lebanon who was seen as "charismatic and highly intelligent," according to the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).
He took over Hezbollah in 1992 after Israel assassinated the group's previous leader and cofounder Abbas al-Musawi.
Nasrallah gained widespread popularity for overseeing the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000 and the so-called "divine victory" in the 2006 Lebanon War. He garnered increased support after he secured a deal to release more than 400 Palestinian, Lebanese, and Arab prisoners in 2004.
Under his leadership, Hezbollah also greatly expanded its military capabilities — particularly in the wake of the 2006 war — acquiring a large stockpile of rockets and missiles.
The group, which has been funded by Iran for decades, has become one of the most heavily armed non-state actors in the world.
But Nasrallah's tenure did see moments of controversy in Lebanon. He sent thousands of fighters from his Shia Muslim Hezbollah to intervene in Syria's civil war after it broke out in 2011, backing President Bashar al-Assad's regime against largely Sunni Muslim rebel groups — and despite Assad's ostracization from the Arab world.
The group's support from Sunni Muslims dropped due to its involvement in the fighting, per the CFR.
But more recently, Nasrallah had been instrumental in Hezbollah's military operations against Israel following the latter's war in Gaza, which has helped rebuild the group's popularity among Arab states.
Nasrallah was predeceased by his eldest son, Hadi, who was killed while fighting against Israeli troops in 1997.