Hours after Israel claimed killing the 64-year-old Nasrallah
on Saturday said its leader “has joined his fellow martyrs” and pledged it
would “continue the holy war against the enemy and in support of Palestine”
amid fears that a regional war is now inevitable.
Israel carried out a large strike on Beirut’s southern
suburbs on Friday evening, which it said targeted the Hezbollah leader,
flattening at least six residential buildings.
Nasrallah, who led Hezbollah for more than three decades, was
by far the most powerful target to be killed by Israel in weeks of intensified
fighting with Hezbollah.
According to the United Nations, more than 50,000 people
have fled Lebanon for Syria, as Israel’s attacks on Lebanon have
killed at least 700 people since Monday.
Israeli jets pounded south Beirut and its outskirts
throughout the night into Saturday, in the most intense attacks on the
Hezbollah stronghold since the group and Israel last went to war in 2006.
Nasrallah had rarely been seen in public since 2006. He was
elected secretary-general of Hezbollah in 1992, aged 32, after an Israeli
helicopter gunship killed his predecessor, Abbas al-Musawi.
Hezbollah
The Lebanese group confirmed in a statement its leader had
been killed “following the treacherous Zionist strike on the southern suburbs”
of Beirut.
The group’s statement said Nasrallah had “joined his great
and immortal martyred comrades, whose path he led for nearly 30 years, during
which he led them from victory to victory”.
The group said it pledged “to the highest, most sacred and
most precious martyr in our journey” to “continue its jihad in confronting the
enemy, in support of Gaza and Palestine, and in defence of Lebanon and its
steadfast and honourable people”.
Hamas
Hamas has condemned the killing of the Lebanese leader as
“cowardly, terrorist act”.
“We condemn in the strongest terms this barbaric Zionist
aggression and targeting of residential buildings,” the group said in a
statement, accusing Israel of disregarding “all international values, customs
and charters” and “blatantly threatening international security and peace, in
light of silence, helplessness and international neglect”.
“In the face of this Zionist crime and massacre, we renew
our absolute solidarity and stand united with the brothers in Hezbollah and the
Islamic resistance in Lebanon,” the group said.
Fatah
The Palestinian Fatah movement also offered condolences and
condemned the assassination, emphasizing “the historical relationship between
the Lebanese people and their resistance and Palestine”.
Iran
Mourning Nasrallah’s killing, Iran’s foreign ministry
spokesman Nasser Kanaani said in a post on X that “the glorious path of the
Resistance leader … will continue and his sacred goal of liberating Jerusalem
will be achieved.”
Iranian Vice President Mohammad Javad Zarif also expressed
his condolences, praising Nasrallah as a “symbol of the fight against
oppression”.
Earlier, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
condemned what he called Israel’s “short-sighted” policy in the region.
“The massacre of the defenceless people in Lebanon once
again… proved the short-sighted and stupid policy of the leaders of the
usurping regime,” Khamenei said in a statement before Hezbollah officially
announced its leader’s death.
Iraq
Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani condemned the
attack as “shameful” and “a crime that shows the Zionist entity has crossed all
the red lines”.
In a statement, Sudani called Nasrallah “a martyr on the
path of the righteous”.
The leader of the Sadrist movement in Iraq, Muqtada al-Sadr,
announced three days of mourning, writing on X: “Farewell to the companion of
the path of resistance and defiance.”
Turkey
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned Israel’s
recent attacks in Lebanon as part of what he called an Israeli policy of
“genocide, occupation, and invasion”, urging the UN Security Council and other
bodies to stop Israel.
In a post on X, Erdogan, without naming Nasrallah, said
Turkey stood with the Lebanese people and its government, offering his
condolences for those killed in the Israeli strikes, while saying the Muslim
world should show a more “determined” stance.
France
The French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs said in a
statement that it is in contact with the Lebanese authorities and France’s
partners in the region to prevent destabilization and conflagration.
The ministry also stressed that the security and protection
of civilians must be guaranteed.
Courtesy: Al Jazeera
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