Hezbollah Chief Sheik Hassan Nasrallah. File
| Photo Credit: AP

The body of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, killed in an Israeli air strike on southern Beirut, has been recovered, a source close to the movement told AFP on Sunday (September 29, 2024).

“His body was recovered on Saturday and was placed in a shroud on Sunday after being washed,” the source said, requesting anonymity.

Also Read: Israeli airstrike hits central Beirut for the first time in nearly a year of conflict | LIVE updates

“The funeral ceremony and his burial have not yet been arranged,” the source added.

Before his death on Friday (September 27, 2024) when Israeli jets attacked Hezbollah’s heartland in the south of the Lebanese capital, Nasrallah was considered the most powerful man in the country.

For more than three decades he headed the Iran-backed movement that was Israel’s sworn enemy.

“Friday’s air strike also killed Ali Karake, the group’s top commander in southern Lebanon,” Hezbollah said on Sunday (September 29, 2024).

It has not named others who died alongside Mr. Nasrallah and Mr. Karake.

However, Israel’s military said on Sunday (September 29, 2024) that “more than 20 other terrorists of varying ranks” were also killed in the attack.

The authorities in Lebanon gave a provisional toll of six dead, but given the scale of the destruction, the number of dead is likely to be higher.

Beirut’s southern suburbs and south and east Lebanon have been subject to intense Israeli bombardment since Monday, with the country’s Health Ministry reporting more than 700 people killed and hundreds of thousands displaced.

People check the rubble of buildings which were levelled on September 27 by Israeli strikes that targeted and killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in the Haret Hreik neighbourhood of Beirut’s southern suburbs, on September 29, 2024.
| Photo Credit:
AFP

Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said on Sunday (September 29, 2024) that militant groups would carry on confronting Israel with Tehran’s help following the killing of Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Iranian state media reported. “We will not hesitate to go to any level in order to help the resistance,” Mr. Qalibaf said.

Also read: Israel-Hezbollah conflict: All you need to know about the escalating cross-border tension

The Israeli military said on Sunday (September 29, 2024) that it conducted strikes against “dozens” of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. The Israel Defense Forces “attacked dozens of terrorist targets in the territory of Lebanon in the last few hours,” the army said in a statement on Telegram.

Also read: How will Hezbollah chief Nasrallah’s killing impact West Asia?

In its first statement since the recent escalation with Israel and following the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, Lebanon’s military called for calm among the Lebanese “at this dangerous and delicate stage.” Government officials fear that the country’s deep political divisions at a time of war could rekindle sectarian strife and violence in the small Mediterranean country. “The Israeli enemy is working to implement its destructive plans and spread division among the Lebanese,” the military said.

Follow live updates here

Women mourn over the coffin of killed Lebanese Hezbollah member Hussein Amhaz during his funeral in Baalbek, in Lebanon’s Bekaa valley, on September 19, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP

The Israeli military said on Thursday (September 19, 2024) it struck six Hezbollah “terrorist infrastructure sites” and a weapons storage facility in southern Lebanon overnight, as fears grew of a full-blown war.

The air force “struck Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure sites in the areas of Chihine, Tayibe, Blida, Meiss El Jabal, Aitaroun and Kfarkela in southern Lebanon, as well as a Hezbollah weapons storage facility in the area of Khiam in southern Lebanon,” a military statement said.

Turkey on Thursday (September 19, 2024) accused Israel of seeking to expand the war in Gaza to Lebanon with the “alarming” wave of deadly explosions that swept though Hezbollah strongholds. 

“The escalation in the region is alarming,” Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on state-run media. “We see Israel mounting its attacks towards Lebanon step by step.”

Meanwhile, Lebanon‘s Hezbollah group said 20 of its members were killed, with a source close to the group telling AFP on Thursday (September 19, 2024) that they had died in walkie-talkie blasts blamed on Israel the day before.

The group sent separate death notices for each member from Wednesday evening to Thursday morning, saying they had been killed “on the road to Jerusalem” — the phrase used by Hezbollah to refer to fighters killed by Israel.