Hassan Nasrallah killed by the Israeli army: what will happen after the death of the leader of Hezbollah in Lebanon ?

Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah was killed on the night of Friday 27 to Saturday 28 September. MAXPPP – SHAHZAIB AKBER

Lebanese Hezbollah announced on Saturday 28 September that its leader Hassan Nasrallah had been killed. This confirmed the information reported earlier by the Israeli army, which said it had struck the movement's headquarters in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Friday evening.

It was the Haret Hreik neighborhood, a Hezbollah stronghold, that was bombed on Friday evening. After the strikes targeting the Hezbollah stronghold on Friday evening, new strikes targeted the Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut on Saturday. But the Lebanese Shiite movement, supported by Iran, said it wanted to continue its battle against Israel, “in support of Gaza and Palestine and in defense of Lebanon and its steadfast and honorable people”.

A hard blow and a resurgence of tensions ?

Hezbollah has not specified the circumstances of its leader's death, while the movement's Al Manar television channel has begun broadcasting verses from the Koran. For its part, Hamas said in a statement that it regretted the killing of the Hezbollah leader, assuring that his death would only strengthen the fight against Israel.

"The crimes and assassinations committed by the occupation will only increase the determination and perseverance of the resistance in Palestine and Lebanon to advance with all its strength, bravery and pride in the footsteps of the martyrs and to continue the path of resistance until victory and the end of the occupation", the Palestinian movement wrote in its statement.

The death of Hassan Nasrallah is, however, a hard blow. For Hezbollah, but also for Iran, whose Revolutionary Guards founded the movement in 1982.

Five days of national mourning

The supreme leader of the Islamic Revolution since 1989, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called on Muslims on Saturday to “stand with the Lebanese people and the proud Hezbollah by all means at their disposal and help them confront the evil regime (of Israel)”.

Iran has announced a five-day national mourning following the death of Hassan Nasrallah, and Iran's first vice president, Mohammad Reza Aref, has vowed that the assassination of the Hezbollah leader will lead to “destruction” d’Israel.

"Israel's war is not against the Lebanese people", declared Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Saturday.“He (Nasrallah) murdered thousands of Israelis and foreign citizens. He posed an immediate threat to the lives of thousands of Israelis and other citizens,” he added in a statement. “To the people of Lebanon, I say: our war is not against you. “It is time for change,” Yoav Gallant continued.