The Lebanese armed group Hezbollah confirmed on Sept. 28 that its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, had been killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut a day earlier. Nasrallah is the highest-ranking Hezbollah leader to have been killed since Israel began targeting the group’s leadership.
Several Hezbollah commanders, and hundreds of Lebanese civilians, have been killed in Israeli attacks in recent weeks. On Sept. 20, Israel launched its heaviest aerial bombing on Lebanon since 2006, killing hundreds of civilians. The attack followed the Sept. 17 coordinated explosions of hand-held wireless pagers allegedly carried by members of Hezbollah (but still also carried by many medical professionals). That assault maimed thousands of Lebanese people.
Israel says the violent strikes were necessary to preemptively thwart Hezbollah from launching rockets into northern Israel. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the Lebanese population: “Israel’s war is not with you, it’s with Hezbollah,” which has long “been using you as human shields.”
