Hezbollah chief killed in Israeli strike on Beirut

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah (portrait) was killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut on Saturday. FILE PIC/AFP

The Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah's headquarters in Beirut on Friday late-night in a series of massive explosions that targeted the leader of the militant group and levelled multiple high-rise apartment buildings.

At least six people were killed and 91 were wounded, Lebanon's health ministry said. It was the biggest blast to hit the Lebanese capital in the past year and appeared likely to push the escalating conflict closer to full-fledged war. Iran announced on Saturday that a prominent general in its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Abbas Nilforushan, sanctioned by the US, also died in the airstrike.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was the target of the strikes, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity, including one United States official. The Israeli army declined to comment on who it was targeting. It was not immediately clear if Nasrallah was at the site. However, later in the day, an official statement by Hezbollah said Nasrallah "has joined his fellow martyrs."

The death toll is likely to rise significantly as teams comb through the rubble of six buildings. Israel launched a series of strikes on other areas of the southern suburbs following the initial blast. After the strikes, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu abruptly cut short a visit to the United States to return home. Hours earlier, he addressed the UN, vowing that Israel's intensified campaign against Hezbollah over the past two weeks would continue "further dimming hopes for an internationally backed cease-fire".

News of the blasts came as Netanyahu was briefing reporters after his UN address. A military aide whispered into his ear, and Netanyahu quickly ended the briefing. The series of blasts at around nightfall reduced six apartment towers to rubble in Haret Hreik, a densely populated, predominantly Shiite district of Beirut's Dahiyeh suburbs, according to Lebanon's national news agency.

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