Foreign Affairs
State of the Union: Hassan Nasrallah’s death leaves Hezbollah leaderless in a critical moment.
The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah confirmed Saturday that its former leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the outskirts of the capital city of Beirut. Nasrallah has led Hezbollah for more than 30 years, including during the brief but savage war between Israel and Lebanon in 2006.
News of Nasrallah’s death caps a week of massive Israeli retaliation against Hezbollah, which has now killed almost all of the group’s leadership and destroyed hundreds of their weapons stockpiles and ground bases. The first strike came in an unexpected manner, as Israel remotely detonated thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah operatives for secure communications, degrading their communications network, killing 39, and wounding thousands. This was quickly followed up by a massive operation by the Israeli Air Force, which, according to the Lebanese government, has killed over 700 people and wounded thousands more.
The Israeli operation significantly has increased tensions in the region, as hundreds of Lebanese civilians have been killed or wounded in the bloodiest exchange since the 2006 war. The death of Nasrallah and other top Hezbollah leadership makes it unlikely for the group to be able to launch an effective response, but may provoke retaliation from Iran, the group’s principal sponsor in the region.
