Israel’s claimed assassination of Hezbollah’s leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in a massive strike on an underground headquarters in Beirut’s southern suburbs marks the most alarming escalation in almost a year of war between the Shia militant organisation and Israel.
Immediately after a bellicose speech by the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, at the UN general assembly – where he appeared to directly threaten Iran as well as promise to continue “degrading” Hezbollah – the first reports of a major strike began to emerge.
