Death of Hezbollah’s Nasrallah pushes Mideast conflict into new territory

Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia, on Saturday confirmed the death of Hassan Nasrallah, its longtime leader, in a strike marking a major escalation of Israel’s campaign against Iran’s proxies in the Middle East.

The death of Nasrallah, after Israeli bombs flattened three apartment buildings near Beirut shielding what it said were Hezbollah’s underground headquarters, pushed Israel’s war against Iran-backed forces into new territory. Iran has long sought to have the proxies – Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen – serve as the front line in its fight with Israel.

But if one of its most important military assets, Hezbollah, has been substantially weakened, it could leave Israel feeling less threatened and put pressure on Iran to decide whether to respond.

While fiercely condemning the attack, Iran’s leaders have not taken any direct steps in retaliation, nor have they punished Israel for the killing last month of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, Iran’s capital. That inaction has led some analysts to conclude that the Iranians do not want to risk a direct confrontation with Israel.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, released a statement Saturday saying, “All the resistance forces in the region stand with and support Hezbollah.”

The strike put the future of cease-fire negotiations between Israel and Hezbollah, long designated a terrorist organization by the United States and others, in doubt. Up to the day of the bombing, the Biden administration alongside other mediators, had been attempting to cinch a diplomatic agreement that would resolve the 11-month battle between the two sides, with little success.

But the attack seemed to put some wind in the sails of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who gave a defiant speech to a sparse crowd at the United Nations on Friday, declaring “we are winning” just before bombs began to fall in Beirut and in the face of calls for a cease-fire.

On Saturday, in his first remarks since the killing of Nasrallah, Netanyahu said Israel had “settled the score” with the man responsible for killing “countless Israelis and many citizens of other countries.” The Hezbollah leader “was not just a terrorist,” he added. “He was the terrorist.”

President Joe Biden said Saturday that the killing of Nasrallah “is a measure of justice for his many victims,” including Americans, but he once again called for a diplomatic agreement to end the fighting.

Nasrallah’s death came as part of a sudden barrage. Israeli leaders, who had been aware of Nasrallah’s whereabouts for months, decided to strike after learning that the Hezbollah leader would soon move to a different location, three senior Israeli defense officials said.

A senior Iranian commander of the Quds Forces, Brig. Gen. Abbas Nilofouroshan, was also killed in the Israeli strike, Iran’s state news agency reported. Nilofouroshan was the commander of operations for Lebanon and Syria, a veteran of the Revolutionary Guard and among the most senior Iranian commanders killed by Israel.

Two of the Israeli officials said that more than 80 bombs were dropped over a period of several minutes in the operation. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Saturday that at least 11 people had been killed and more than 100 injured in the strikes. The toll was expected to rise significantly as rescuers searched the rubble.

Israel’s strikes in Lebanon and Gaza have killed tens of thousands of civilians, drawing international condemnation, while Israel blames the militant groups for embedding themselves among the general population.

The killing of Nasrallah, a towering figure among anti-Israel forces across the Middle East and beyond, struck a tremendous blow to Hezbollah, ending an era in the Lebanese group’s decades-old fight with Israel and raising questions about its future. Nasrallah played multiple roles in the lives of Hezbollah’s members, serving at once as a religious guide, political strategist and commander in chief.

The current conflict began when Hezbollah started firing missiles and drones at Israel after the Hamas-led attacks Oct. 7 triggered the war in Gaza. More than 150,000 people have been displaced in both countries; Hezbollah vowed for months that it would not stop fighting until Israel ended its war against its Palestinian ally, Hamas.

But the conflict in Lebanon seems far from over. On Saturday, officials in both Hezbollah and the Israeli military vowed to continue their fight, and Israel resumed airstrikes in Lebanon.

Nasrallah, a Shiite cleric who had led Hezbollah since 1992, oversaw its growth into an influential political party with seats in the Lebanese parliament and a powerful militia armed with an extensive arsenal of missiles, rockets and drones.

News of Nasrallah’s death brought expressions of shock and mourning by Hezbollah supporters in Beirut and elsewhere in the region, but also celebrations from some anti-Hezbollah groups in the Middle East.

Outside a large mosque in downtown Beirut, children and adults wiped away tears, and several women began wailing with grief. “He’s gone! Sayyid, he’s gone!” one woman shouted, using a common honorific for Nasrallah. Another woman, Jamila Ghaith, 53, was shaking her head. “We’ll keep following his path,” she cried out. “Even if he died, he’ll win.”

On Saturday, Iranians mourning Nasrallah gathered in several places, including Tehran’s Palestine Square, waving the Hezbollah flag and beating their chests as religious ballads were broadcast.

Iraq’s prime minister, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, declared three days of mourning in all parts of Iraq.

Hamas released a statement saying that Israeli assassinations “will only make the resistance in Palestine and in Lebanon more determined and persistent.”

Reactions in other parts of a deeply divided Lebanon were mixed. In Achrafieh, a predominantly Christian neighborhood in Beirut, news of Nasrallah’s death was welcome, though it stoked unease. While many Christian Lebanese held great disdain for Nasrallah, some worried that his assassination could spark internal strife, if not another civil war.

“They are targeting the most powerful party in Lebanon. God knows what this will usher forward,” said Joseph Haddad, 60, as he played backgammon at an intersection in Achrafieh.

In parts of Syria, the recent Israeli raids on Hezbollah, and news of its leader’s death, were welcomed, even with singing in the streets. Hezbollah, a Shiite militia, played a key role in President Bashar Assad’s defeat of the mostly Sunni opposition in the 2011 uprising there, mounting sieges that starved encircled communities for months and expelled many Sunni Muslims from neighborhoods and towns.

As Israel launched strike after successful strike against Hezbollah in the past two weeks – starting with exploding pagers and walkie-talkies, and culminating in the airstrikes that killed Hezbollah’s longtime leader – many Syrians from the opposition have posted celebratory messages on social media. Some used the hashtag “ana shamtan,” which translates roughly to “I have schadenfreude.”

Mohammad al-Shammary, a Syrian refugee living in eastern Turkey, called Nasrallah’s death “the sweetest news ever.”

For Israelis, Nasrallah’s killing was a rare moment of unabated victory in what has become a seemingly endless war of attrition with Hamas and Hezbollah, now nearing its one-year mark.

Residents of Israel’s northern communities had long watched Hezbollah’s leader, wondering when their lives might be upended by renewed violence, said Ofir Yehezkeli, the deputy mayor of Kiryat Shmona, an Israeli border city that has been emptied out after relentless Hezbollah rocket fire. The city’s residents are now scattered, having fled Hezbollah bombardments.

“Since I was a child, we were always following what he said, and his speeches, to know whether there would be rocket attacks or not,” he said. “It’s the end of an era. It’s history in the making.”

In Beirut, the Lebanese government was preparing for demonstrations and unrest. Lebanese army tanks were deployed near the Burj Al Ghazal bridge late Saturday afternoon in anticipation of possible clashes in the wake of Nasrallah’s death. The bridge divides a Shiite neighborhood, Khandaa Al-Ghami, from a Christian one, Achrafieh, and has been the site of previous confrontations.

For now, Israeli warplanes continue to strike Hezbollah targets across Lebanon, including in the southern suburbs of Beirut, said Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military spokesperson. “We are continuing, in these very hours, to strike, eliminate and kill the commanders of Hezbollah,” Hagari told reporters at a televised briefing.

The Israeli military said Saturday that it had killed a senior member of Hezbollah’s intelligence apparatus, Hassan Khalil Yassin, who was responsible for identifying civilian and military targets.

The airstrikes have targeted not only Hezbollah leaders, but also its formidable caches of armaments including drones, rockets and missiles. How effective the Israel bombing has been in destroying the Hezbollah arsenal is uncertain.

Still, Israel was taking precautions Saturday. The Israeli military ordered new restrictions on mass gatherings in parts of central Israel, including the greater Tel Aviv area, anticipating a potential response by Hezbollah. Gatherings of more than 1,000 people will be banned, Hagari said.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.