Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah killed in Israeli strike

The Israel Defense Forces says a senior Hezbollah intelligence leader, Hassan Khalil Yassin, was killed in one of its airstrikes on the Dahiyeh area of Beirut.

The IDF said Yassin worked with Hezbollah’s offensive units to personally plan terror attacks against Israeli civilians on the northern border and deep within Israeli territory.

Hezbollah has not publicly commented on the Israeli claim.

The US State Department on Saturday allowed certain employees and their family members and ordered other family members to depart Lebanon as the conflict threatens to deepen following the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

The authorized and ordered departure of non-emergency personnel and family members is not an evacuation of the entire embassy, but it does reflect the increased volatility in the country and its capital of Beirut.

“U.S. Embassy Beirut personnel are restricted from personal travel without advance permission,” it said, noting that additional travel restrictions could be imposed “with little to no notice due to increased security issues or threats.”

The department said commercial flights are still available “at reduced capacity,” but noted that those options could become unavailable should the security situation become worse.

Earlier Saturday, the State Department launched a form for US citizens in Lebanon who are interested in assistance departing the country.

CORRECTION: This post has been corrected to reflect that there was an ordered and authorized departure notice.

Iranian flag carrier Iran Air has announced the suspension of all flights to the Lebanese capital of Beirut, due to ongoing “aggression by the Israeli regime,” the country’s state news agency IRNA reported Saturday.

The decision follows the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a massive Israeli airstrike on Beirut’s densely populated Dahiyeh neighborhood on Friday, which reduced several residential buildings to rubble.

Israel is carrying out more strikes Saturday on what it says are Hezbollah targets in Beirut, as Lebanese officials report over 1,000 people killed since last week.

US President Joe Biden speaks on September 24 in New York.

US President Joe Biden said the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is a “measure of justice for his many victims,” including Americans, while calling for de-escalation in conflicts across the Middle East.

In a statement, Biden said the US “fully supports Israel’s right to defend itself against Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and any other Iranian-supported terrorist groups.”

“It is time for these deals to close, for the threats to Israel to be removed, and for the broader Middle East region to gain greater stability,” he continued.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said Saturday that he is deeply alarmed by the significant escalation of events in Beirut over the past 24 hours.

He also reiterated his call for an immediate cessation of hostilities in Gaza and the unconditional release of all hostages, according to his spokesperson.

Remember: While Israel and Hezbollah have been locked in conflict for decades, the killing of the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has marked a major escalation and deepened fears of a wider regional war.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas speaks during a press conference in Madrid on September 19.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has extended his condolences to Lebanon and Hezbollah over the death of the militant group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

He also gave his “heartfelt sympathies” to the Lebanese government for any civilian casualties that may result from conflict with Israel, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA.

Remember: Hezbollah confirmed the death of Nasrallah after Israel said he was killed in its airstrikes on the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Friday, which flattened several buildings in a densely populated suburb. Israel has continued to pound the capital with further strikes on what it says are Hezbollah targets.

Some background: Nasrallah was one of the founders of Hezbollah, which formed four decades ago with the aid of Iran, and oversaw its transformation into one of the most powerful paramilitary forces in the Middle East. He was revered by some in Lebanon as a religious and political leader.

Much of the Western world has designated Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, largely since Argentina blamed the group for the 1992 attack on the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, which killed 29 people, and the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center, which killed 85. Senior US officials welcomed the news of Nasrallah’s killing Saturday.

In Lebanon, Hezbollah is officially considered a “resistance” group tasked with confronting Israel, which Beirut classifies as an enemy state. The group has characterized its most recent fighting with Israel as being in solidarity with Hamas and the Palestinians in Gaza.

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis declared three days of public mourning in the country following the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

The news was announced by Mahdi al-Mashat, the head of the Houthis’ supreme political council.

More background: Like Hezbollah, the Houthis are part of a network of militia groups across the Middle East headed by Iran.

The Houthis were re-designated earlier this year by the US as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) entity amid continued attacks by the Yemen-based militia. The designation is aimed at deterring the Houthis from their ongoing attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.

Earlier Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces said a missile launched toward Israel from Yemen was intercepted before it reached the country.

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike on Beirut's southern suburbs on September 28.

Another huge explosion has hit the Lebanese capital of Beirut, a CNN team reports.

Smoke can be seen rising from the city’s southern suburbs, where Israel has carried out a series of strikes recently.

The Israel Defense Forces said it had carried out a “precise” strike in the southern Dahiyeh neighborhood. The IDF said more details would follow.

Remember: An Israeli attack killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in the same area on Friday, according to the group. Israel continued pounding southern Beirut overnight into Saturday, claiming it was striking buildings storing weapons for the militant group.

The southern suburbs are densely populated, and the Lebanese health ministry said early Saturday local time that at least six people were killed and more were wounded in the strikes that killed Nasrallah.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin speaks during a press conference in London on September 26.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said the United States is determined to protect Israel against Iran and its proxy groups, expressing “full support” for Israel’s right to defend itself, during two calls with Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant on Friday.

According to a statement, the two spoke after ramped-up Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon this week, which killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Austin said the United States is committed to the defense of Israel and will remain in the region to protect US forces and facilities. Austin also reiterated the US will prevent Iran and other Iranian-backed partners or their proxies from exploiting the situation in Lebanon or expanding the conflict.

Smoke rises behind buildings destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in Beirut's southern suburbs on September 28.

The number of people killed in Lebanon since Israeli attacks escalated last week has reached at least 1,030, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.

The death toll includes 56 women and 87 children, according to an update from the ministry on Saturday. A total of 6,352 people have been hurt in the Israeli strikes on the country, it said.

Israel’s heavy strikes on parts of Lebanon last night killed at least 11 people and injured 108, according to the health ministry’s figures. Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was among those killed in the capital of Beirut, the group announced earlier today.

Two of the recent Israeli strikes hit medical centers in southern Lebanon, killing seven people and injuring four others, he added.

The majority of deaths in the most recent conflict between Israel and Hezbollah have come in the last week.

What Israel has said: The Israel Defense Forces says it is targeting Hezbollah infrastructure and weapons storage in the southern suburbs of Beirut, and has called on residents to evacuate their homes. It has accused Hezbollah of embedding in civilian areas and using residents as “human shields.”

Families from heavily populated Beirut neighborhoods were seen fleeing with their belongings following the latest Israeli warning Friday, joining the tens of thousands of people who the Lebanese government says are internally displaced due to the fighting.

A missile launched toward Israel from Yemen was intercepted before it reached the country, the Israel Defense Forces said Saturday.

Sirens were sounded in central Israel to warn people, the IDF said.

Some background: The Yemen-based Houthi rebel group has regularly targeted Israel with drones and missiles since the start of the country’s war with Hamas, most of which have been intercepted by Israel’s defenses.

The rebel group, which is aligned with Iran and has targeted Israel in the past, has not commented on Saturday’s missile launch.

The Israeli government will not allow gatherings of more than 1,000 people in Tel Aviv, the nearby city of Netanya, and several other areas of Israel, according to guidelines published on Saturday.

The rules are in effect until Monday at 6 p.m. local time (11 a.m. ET). This comes after Hezbollah said that it had launched a “rocket barrage” targeting several locations in Israel on Saturday.

Israel also intercepted a missile fired by Hezbollah near Tel Aviv on Wednesday.

More stringent restrictions on civilian life have long been implemented for Israelis near the country’s borders with Lebanon and Gaza.

The US State Department has launched a form for US citizens in Lebanon to fill out if they are interested in getting assistance to depart the country as Israel’s military campaign continues to escalate.

The form is not announcing an evacuation or US-assisted departures from the country yet, but it is a notable development that signals such options are likely on the horizon.

The department has used similar forms in the past, such as in Israel after October 7 last year.

CNN has reached out to the State Department for additional information.

The form notes that the US is “able to assist only U.S. citizens and their accompanying immediate family (including spouses, children under 21-years old, and parents) who have valid travel documents for onward travel from Turkey or Cyprus.”

“Travel within Lebanon is conducted at your own risk. The U.S. government cannot guarantee your safety traveling to airports, borders, or during any onward travel,” it continued.

“Only attempt to depart Lebanon or travel within Lebanon if you believe it is safe for you to do so. The U.S. Embassy may not be able to assist U.S. citizens who choose to remain,” it added.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has landed back in Israel, his office said on Saturday, returning from the United States a day earlier than originally planned.

Netanyahu was in New York on Friday, where he made a speech to the United Nations General Assembly.

He took off from New York last night, after Israel launched a strike in Beirut, Lebanon, that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Some senior US officials celebrated the news of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s death in a major Israeli airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon — even despite growing concerns about the possibility of another full-scale war breaking out in the Middle East.

President Joe Biden and the White House have yet to comment on the news of Nasrallah’s death, and the US has not said whether its own intelligence confirms his killing. The US and much of the Western world designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.

“Nobody here is mourning Nasrallah,” another senior administration official told CNN, referring to the Hezbollah leader as a “terrorist” and “killer.”

As of Saturday morning, it was simply too early to know what implications his death would have in the region and on the looming possibility of a major escalation, that official said.

The US’ posture for now is to be prepared for a range of possible retaliation — but whether that would come from Hezbollah, Iran or both, was unknowable for now, they said.

Had the events of the past few days taken place six months ago, the risk of a second major war might have been even greater, a senior US administration official said. But Hezbollah and Iran — which backs the militant group — have been weakened, the official added.

Another senior US official previously told CNN that the US believes Iran will intervene in the conflict if they determine that they are about to “lose” Hezbollah, its most powerful proxy group.

The US has been leading an effort on a 21-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah across the Israel-Lebanon border. Those talks now appear entirely up in the air.

This post has been updated with comments from additional US officials.

A senior commander in Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Abbas Nilforoushan, was among those killed in the Israeli strike targeting Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah on Friday, Iranian state media said.

Nilforoushan was the deputy commander for operations of the IRGC and was responsible for one of the security organizations directly in charge of protest suppression, the US Department of Treasury said.

An experienced commander who served as a military adviser during the Syrian civil war, he was likely meeting Nasrallah in Beirut’s southern suburbs when Israel struck on Friday.

The commander was sanctioned by the US Treasury for his role in suppressing protests during the 2022 Iranian demonstrations over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in custody of Iran’s morality police.

Remember: Nasrallah, along with other Hezbollah commanders, was killed in a huge Israeli strike on the Dahiyeh neighborhood in Beirut’s southern suburbs yesterday.

Several buildings were destroyed in Dahiyeh as Israel fired several airstrikes on the densely populated capital on Friday. At least six people were killed and dozens were wounded, with rescuers saying that they were still searching for more victims early Saturday local time.

Smoke rises after an Israeli strike in Beirut, Lebanon, on September 27.

Now that Hezbollah has confirmed the death of its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, the next 72 hours will likely see the group’s commanders assessing who is left, how safe it is to communicate and meet, and exactly what level of pain tolerance it retains as it tries to formulate a response.

But while the world awaits Hezbollah’s — and Iran’s — next move, it is Israel’s next steps that matter most.

The country has shown that it has the intelligence advantage, military might and tolerance for international condemnation of civilian casualties to continue to strike at will. But this risks turning a fortnight of brutal strikes into another longer-term loss to Israeli prestige.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has a defining choice to make. Does the past fortnight salvage his domestic reputation for security and leave him better placed to face the music of the cases against him? Or does he again calculate that an ongoing war without clear strategic direction is his best way forward?

Ultimately a wider field of vision must win out. Lebanon’s civilians — and its southern neighbors — need political accommodation and a ceasefire now, regardless of what it means for the fate of Israel’s current political elite.

Read Nick Paton Walsh’s full analysis here.

Gunfire erupted in Beirut after Hezbollah announced the death of its leader Hassan Nasrallah — a gesture to mark martyrdom, believed by Muslims to be one of the highest honors in Islam.

Many Hezbollah supporters were initially skeptical after Israel announced Nasrallah’s death earlier.

Moments before Hezbollah announced Nasrallah’s death, a woman and a man told CNN they expected the group’s leader to “surprise us all with an appearance.”

“He’s not in Lebanon. I know in my heart he isn’t,” said one elderly Shia woman in a black chador, smiling.

Less than five minutes later, the announcement of his death came. “He was martyred,” she kept repeating as she pressed her face against a wall, fumbling to keep herself standing.

A man trying to console her said that “martyrdom was what he wanted … and it’s what he received.”

Another woman broke down crying as she recited verses from the Quran with tears streaming down her face.

In the Dahiyeh neighborhood of southern Beirut, where Nasrallah was killed by Israel, loud chants of: “We submit to you, Nasrallah,” and “We will never accept humiliation,” were heard.

After Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s death, it’s not entirely clear who’s next in line to succeed him as the militant group’s chief, particularly because Israel has killed several levels of its hierarchy.

CNN’s Ben Wedeman says there are two possibilities: Nasrallah’s deputy Naim Qassem or senior official Hashem Safieddine.

“But at this point, given the body blows that Hezbollah has received going back to July 30, when Fu’ad Shukr was killed in the southern suburbs of Beirut in an Israeli drone strike, what we’re seeing is that the organization is clearly reeling at the moment. And perhaps their priority at the moment is surviving — those who are still alive — surviving to carry on to fight another day,” Wedeman says.

Watch Wedeman’s report from Beirut here:

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Ben Wedeman on Nasrallah's possible successor

04:43 - Source: CNN

The Israeli killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut has dramatically inflamed fears of a full-scale war in the Middle East — a possibility that US President Joe Biden’s administration has been desperately seeking for months to forestall, according to current and former US officials.

Hezbollah will almost certainly respond, according to Jonathan Panikoff, a former senior intelligence official specializing in the region, and Iran is likely to play a role.

“The response is likely to be big enough that the odds it will prompt a full-scale war will skyrocket,” Panikoff said.

Hezbollah, which the US designates as a terrorist organization, is Iran’s most powerful and capable proxy militia in the region. There are some indications Tehran had already grown alarmed about the degree of damage Israel has been inflicting on the group, according to a US military official.

A senior US official said the US believes Iran will intervene in the conflict if they judge that they are about to “lose” Hezbollah. The combined effects of Israel’s operations against Hezbollah had already taken hundreds of fighters off the battlefield, according to that official and another person familiar with the intelligence.

US officials have long assessed that senior Hezbollah leadership has wanted to avoid all-out war with Israel, even as fighting has intensified in recent months. The killing of Nasrallah is categorically different, however.

Hezbollah’s rank-and-file have long been agitating to play a bigger role in the fighting with Israel since October 7, and it now risks losing legitimacy in the eyes of its fighters and supporters if it does not offer a maximalist response to the killing of its leader, according to Panikoff.

The strike was also a clear signal of Israel’s willingness to risk a broader conflict, and that it was not close to accepting a ceasefire proposal backed by the US, according to Mick Mulroy, a former top Middle East official at the Defense Department. Hezbollah is also now unlikely to be interested in the negotiations.

Hamas issued a statement expressing condolences and solidarity with Hezbollah for the death of its leader Hassan Nasrallah and a number of senior officials from the group.

The militant group condemned Nasrallah’s assassination as a “cowardly aggression,” describing the Israeli airstrike that killed him and his associates as a “heinous crime,” and praising Nasrallah’s longstanding support for Palestinians.

Remember: Israel and Hezbollah have been in conflict for decades, but the fighting across the Lebanon-Israel border has intensified since Hamas’ October 7 attacks on Israel and the ensuing Israeli military offensive in Gaza. Hezbollah has said recent clashes with Israel are in solidarity with Hamas and the Palestinians killed by Israeli bombardment.

Hezbollah and Hamas are part of a larger Iran-led alliance of militant groups spanning Yemen, Syria, Gaza and Iraq.

More allies share condolences: Islamic Jihad in Palestine (PIJ) echoed Hamas’ sentiments, mourning the loss of a “giant Arab and Islamic figure who paved the path of victory for the nation.” They declared that his death would further “strengthen the resistance in Lebanon, Palestine, and the region.” The group hailed Nasrallah’s legacy, comparing his sacrifices to those of former Hezbollah leader Abbas Musawi.

Powerful Iraqi cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr announced three days of mourning in Iraq, referring to Nasrallah as a “companion in the path of resistance and defiance” in a statement on Saturday.

And Iraq’s most influential Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, expressed his “deep sorrow” over the killing of Nasrallah in a statement. He called Israel’s targeting of the top Hezbollah figure on Friday a “horrific massacre” and praised Nasrallah’s role in what he described as the liberation of Lebanese territories from Israeli occupation, his support of Iraq in its fight against ISIS, and his dedication to the Palestinian cause.

CNN’s Hamdi Alkhshali contributed reporting.

This post has been updated with additional reaction.

Israel's Iron Dome defense system fires to intercept rockets that were launched from Lebanon, as seen from Haifa, Israel, on September 23.

For months, Israeli officials have anticipated that Hezbollah would fire thousands of rockets and missiles toward Israel in the opening days of a major escalation in the long-running conflict between the two sides.

Israel’s Iron Dome system would be overwhelmed. Israel’s major airport could be severely damaged. And hundreds of thousands could be left without power.

But as Israel escalated the conflict over the last 11 days, beginning with the explosion of thousands of Hezbollah pagers and culminating in the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, none of that has come to pass.

Hezbollah has fired several hundred rockets per day in response, but it has come nowhere close to delivering that type of major retaliation Israeli officials had been anticipating — at least not yet.

Why no large-scale response? Israeli officials believe that an overwhelming Hezbollah response has not materialized for two key reasons: Nearly all of Hezbollah’s senior commanders have been killed, leaving its command-and-control structure in disarray; and Israeli airstrikes have debilitated much of the operational infrastructure Hezbollah would use to carry out significant retaliation.

Israeli officials said Hezbollah’s command structure has been decimated and its organization is in disarray. And a round of 1,600 airstrikes on Monday — followed by additional strikes in recent days — have struck weapons depots and missile launch positions that could have been used to carry out large-scale, simultaneous attacks.

Still, Israeli officials are well-aware that Hezbollah can and likely will regroup. One Israeli official acknowledged that Israel knows it has not taken out Hezbollah’s entire capabilities and that its senior commanders are replaceable.

Israel has taken advantage of what it believes to be internal chaos within Hezbollah over the last 24 hours, carrying out dozens of airstrikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs, where the group has a significant presence.

The question now is what comes next: Israeli generals have said they are preparing for a ground offensive into Lebanon, but whether one unfolds has yet to be decided.

And how Hezbollah regroups and what direction it receives from Iran also remain to be seen.

People stand next to a house damaged by a rocket attack from Lebanon on September 28, in Safed, Israel.

Hezbollah has vowed that it will “continue its fight to confront the enemy” in a statement Saturday, after it confirmed the death of its leader Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut.

The group described Nasrallah as a “sacred martyr” who led the group since 1992, saying that he was killed in a “treacherous Zionist airstrike on the southern suburbs” of the Lebanese capital. Israel said Saturday morning that it killed Nasrallah in an airstrike in southern Beirut on Friday.

“His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Secretary-General of Hezbollah, has joined his great and eternal martyred companions, whom he led for nearly thirty years, guiding them from victory to victory,” it continued.

The Hezbollah-owned Al-Manar TV channel switched to Quranic recitations, an Islamic gesture declaring mourning.

Hamas also issued a statement mourning Nasrallah.

Hezbollah has confirmed the death of its leader Hassan Nasrallah, after Israel said he was killed in an airstrike in Beirut on Friday.

The group said Nasrallah was killed after a “treacherous Zionist airstrike on the southern suburbs.”

Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Beirut's southern suburbs, on Saturday, September 28.

The Israeli military has claimed that it killed Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah in Friday’s huge airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon.

There has been no confirmation from the Iran-backed militant group, but if he has died it is a major blow to Hezbollah, which has already been hit by a series of attacks from Israel.

Here’s what you need to know:

Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Beirut's southern suburbs on Saturday, September 28.

The Israeli military carried out fresh airstrikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut, it said on Saturday, as it continued to pound the Lebanese capital following Friday’s strike that killed Hezbollah’s leader.

A CNN team saw smoke rising from a neighborhood, and videos geolocated by CNN to southern Beirut also showed smoke rising from buildings in the area.

The Israel Defense Forces has struck 140 Hezbollah targets since Friday night, it said in a statement Saturday, reportedly destroying rocket launchers, weapons storage facilities and weapons production sites, some of which it said were “embedded underneath” residential buildings in Beirut.

The IDF added that military operations to “degrade and dismantle Hezbollah’s military capabilities” are ongoing.

Residents fled the southern Beirut neighborhood of Dahiyeh overnight Friday after the Israeli military warned of incoming strikes. Videos showed traffic jams and people fleeing the area with their belongings.

Israel said six buildings in the neighborhood were targeted for storing anti-ship missiles. Hezbollah has previously denied storing weapons in the neighborhood.

Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah appears on a screen as he addresses supporters in Beirut, Lebanon, on July 17.

While Nasrallah’s targeting is unlikely to disrupt the operational continuity of the movement it is “obviously a massive, massive demoralization amongst its ranks and supporters and absolute terror which will temporarily paralyze ordinary people” within the movement, said Amal Saad, a Hezbollah expert and lecturer in politics and international relations at Cardiff University in Wales.

“That doesn’t mean the organization is paralyzed,” she added. “Hezbollah is an organization that was built to absorb these types of shocks… it’s built to be resilient and outlast individual leaders.”

Few contenders for Hezbollah’s leadership can match Nasrallah’s popularity, said Hanin Ghaddar, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute and author of “Hezbollahland,” as he is closely associated with the group’s “golden days,” including the end of Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon in 2000 and the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war, both of which were viewed as major victories for the Lebanese group.

If the group’s leadership is truly dismantled and coordination between Iran and Hezbollah is disrupted, it could prompt Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to take the lead, according to Ghaddar.

“They (Iran) will have to find a way to do it themselves. But it’s not an easy option as they will (become) targets, and they don’t understand Lebanon.”

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei sent a message of assurance to Hezbollah on Saturday, saying that “all regional resistance forces” are standing with the group.

In his first message since the Israeli military claimed the killing of Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah, Khamenei said that Israel was “too small to cause significant damage” to the Lebanese group. The fate of the region, he said, “will be determined by the resistance forces, at the top of which is a victorious Hezbollah.”

“It is obligatory for all Muslims to stand proudly with the people of Lebanon and Hezbollah with their resources and help it in confronting the usurping, cruel and evil regime,” the written statement said.

Hezbollah hasn’t yet commented on the claim that Nasrallah was killed. Khamenei did not mention the leader in the statement.

A man takes a picture of a house damaged following a rocket attack from Lebanon, in Safed, northern Israel, on September 28, 2024.

Hezbollah has launched a “rocket barrage” targeting several locations in Israel, it announced on Saturday, following Israel’s claim that it killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike on Friday.

Hezbollah hasn’t confirmed Nasrallah’s death.

The Iran-backed group said it launched a rocket barrage and artillery targeting Rosh Pina, Sa’ar and Avivim in northern Israel.

Rocket sirens were activated in Safed and the Upper Galilee, according to Israel’s Home Front Command. Earlier, the Israel Defense Forces said a rocket was intercepted over the West Bank.

No injuries were announced following the Hezbollah strikes.

An Israeli tanks passes near a banner with photos of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, as it is transported on a truck towards the north of Israel on September 26, 2024.

Israel’s Hostages Families Forum called for renewed efforts to free the remaining hostages held in Gaza on Saturday, following the Israeli military’s claim that it had killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

“And now, to the most important mission, after a year’s delay: returning all the hostages home,” the organization wrote in a post on X.

As escalating attacks between Israel and Hezbollah over the past week have dominated news coverage and political attention, the families of the hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza have expressed dismay that government’s efforts to secure the release of their loved ones is being overshadowed.

The number of Israeli captives still in the enclave stands at 101, including 35 believed to be dead, according to data from the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office.

The Israeli military says that it knows Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is dead based on a “combination of types of information,” an Israeli official said Saturday.

The official would not go into any further specifics. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed on Saturday that it killed Nasrallah in an airstrike on Beirut on Friday. Hezbollah has not yet commented.

“In this case we have confirmation, and I’m sharing it with you this morning,” the official said.

“And I apologize, but I can’t go into the specifics of what intelligence, how we got to it – a combination of types of information we have. But I can tell you that the IDF has confirmed that Hassan Nasrallah is no longer with us.”

The Israeli military has claimed that the group’s chain of command “has been almost completely dismantled” after it killed a series of what it says are top officials in the organization this week.

The chain of command is not publicly known, however, and CNN cannot independently verify Israel’s claims.

“Hezbollah has taken the biggest blow to its military infrastructure since its inception. In addition to losing weapon depots and facilities, the group has lost most of its senior commanders, and its communications network is broken,” said Hanin Ghaddar, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute and author of “Hezbollahland.”

Despite its losses however, the group still retains skilled commanders and many of its most powerful assets, including precision-guided missiles and long-range missiles that could inflict significant damage to Israel’s military and civilian infrastructure, said Ghaddar. Most of those missiles haven’t been deployed yet.

Since Israel stepped up its campaign, Hezbollah’s military performance “has proven that it was able to absorb that shock and was able to bounce back and it has been striking hard at northern Israel for days now,” said Amal Saad, Hezbollah expert and lecturer in politics and international relations at Cardiff University in Wales.

On Wednesday, Israel intercepted a ballistic missile fired by Hezbollah near Tel Aviv, an unprecedented attack that reached deep into the country’s commercial heartland. Hezbollah said it targeted the headquarters of Israel’s intelligence agency.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid in Jerusalem, on May 30, 2024.

Israel’s opposition leader, Yair Lapid, congratulated the military on Saturday for a strike the previous day which the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says killed Hezbollah secretary general Hassan Nasrallah.

“I congratulate the defense establishment, the IDF and the IAF (Israeli Air Force) for the elimination of the mass murderer Hassan Nasrallah. All our enemies should know that those who attack Israel - is marked for death. This is a significant achievement for Israel’s deterrence and security,” Lapid wrote in a statement on X.

The Israeli military does not yet know how many civilians were killed in its strike on southern Beirut that it says killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, an Israeli military official said Saturday.

“I still don’t know the numbers,” the official said. They also declined to comment on the type of bombs used in the attack.

When asked what kind of collateral damage assessment the Israel Defense Forces carried out ahead of the strike, the official said: “There’s a discussion with an intelligence officer, a surveillance officer (and) a legal officer.”

In this screengrab taken from a video, IDF Chief of the General Staff Herzi Halevi speaks in Tel Aviv on September 28, 2024.

Israel’s army chief Herzi Halevi has warned that “this is not the end of our toolbox” following the military’s claim that it killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a strike on Friday.

“This is not the end of our toolbox. It should be very clear: there are further tools going forward. And the message is clear: anyone who threatens the citizens of Israel, we will know how to reach them, in the north, in the south, and also farther away,” Halevi said in a video released Saturday.

He added that Friday’s strike had been carefully prepared over a long period of time.

“Eventually, after a long period of preparation, of many capabilities for Lebanon, we started implementing them,” he said, adding that the strike “was carried out at the right time, in a very sharp manner, and we are now moving to preparing the next things.”

He ended his video statement by saying that Israel’s military is prepared “along all our fronts.”

The Israeli military claimed Saturday that Nasrallah, the secretary-general of Hezbollah, was killed in Friday’s airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon. Hezbollah has not commented.

The Israeli military claims that Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed alongside Hezbollah commanders in Friday’s airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon.

“Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Hezbollah terrorist organization and one of its founders, was eliminated by the IDF, together with Ali Karki, the Commander of Hezbollah’s Southern Front, and additional Hezbollah commanders,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement Saturday morning.

Prior to last week, it was extraordinarily rare for Israel to strike the Lebanese capital. The IDF continued to strike Beirut overnight, targeting what it said were Hezbollah missile storage facilities. CNN teams witnessed massive explosions reverberating through the capital.

Israeli Air Force jets “conducted a targeted strike on the central headquarters of the Hezbollah terrorist organization, which was located underground embedded under a residential building in the area of Dahiyeh in Beirut,” the IDF said. “The strike was conducted while Hezbollah’s senior chain of command were operating from the headquarters and advancing terrorist activities against the citizens of the State of Israel.”

Hezbollah began firing on northern Israel the day after Hamas’ October 7 attack on the country. Around 60,000 Israelis have been forced from their homes, whom the Israeli government has committed to returning.

Last week, Israel massively ramped up its military campaign against Hezbollah, killing hundreds and displacing hundreds of thousands of civilians, according to the Lebanese government.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah delivers a televised speech during a gathering to commemorate Ashura, in the southern suburbs of Beirut on July 29, 2023.

Hassan Nasrallah, who Israel has claimed was killed in a strike on southern Beirut, turned Hezbollah into one of the most powerful paramilitary forces in the Middle East.

One of the founding members of the group formed four decades ago with the aid of Iran, Nasrallah ascended to the top of Hezbollah in 1992. He replaced his predecessor and mentor, Abbas Musawi, as secretary-general of Hezbollah, after he was killed by an Israeli helicopter strike.

Born to a grocer and his wife in Beirut in August 1960, Nasrallah spent his early adolescence under the shadow of Lebanon’s civil war.

When Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982, Nasrallah rallied a group of fighters to resist the occupation – which would evolve into Hezbollah.

The Lebanese militant group grew from a a rag-tag group of militants to a regional fighting force under Nasrallah. He led the growth of Hezbollah’s forces – his fighters and reservists are thought to number 100,000 – as well as the proliferation of its arsenal, which boasts long-range as well as medium and short-range missiles and drones.

In its statement announcing his death, the Israeli military said Nasrallah was responsible for the murder of many Israeli civilians and soldiers, and the planning and execution of thousands of terrorist activities. It called him “the central decision-maker and the strategic leader of the organization.”

Read our full obituary here.

This post has been updated.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah gives a televised address, Lebanon, September 19, 2024, in this screenshot taken from a video.

The Israeli military claims that Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in Friday’s airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon.

The airstrike targeted Beirut’s densely populated southern suburbs known as Dahiyeh, which have a strong Hezbollah presence.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Daniel Hagari said Friday that the Israeli military had struck Hezbollah’s headquarters.

Hezbollah has not commented.

Smoke billows from the site of Israeli strikes that targeted villages near Lebanon's eastern city of Baalbeck in the Beqaa valley on September 28, 2024.

Israeli airstrikes hit multiple locations across eastern and southern Lebanon on Saturday morning, the official Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) reported.

The areas hit include towns in Baalbek in the east and Nabatiyeh in the south, NNA said, adding an unspecified number of people had been killed in the attacks.

In a statement Saturday morning, the Israeli military said it conducted “extensive strikes” over the past two hours in the area of Beqaa and in southern Lebanon, claiming it targeted Hezbollah launchers, weapons storage facilities, and infrastructure sites.

CNN cannot independently verify the military’s claim.

Israel detected five more projectiles fired from Lebanon on Saturday morning, setting off sirens across a large area of the north, the Israeli military said.

Sirens were activated in more than 100 communities, based on a count of the military’s Home Front Command warning application.

The attack followed an earlier barrage of 10 projectiles detected from the Lebanese side of the border. Hezbollah said earlier it fired rockets toward northern Israel in response to Israeli attacks on Lebanese cities and villages.

Hezbollah members take part in a military exercise during a media tour in Aaramta, Lebanon on May 21, 2023.

Explosions rocked Beirut on Friday and Saturday as Israeli strikes first targeted Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, then several buildings which, it alleges, are storing the militant group’s missiles in the Lebanese capital.

While this is a recent escalation in fighting, here’s what to know about their decades-long conflict:

Israeli invasion: Israel took almost half of Lebanon’s territory when its forces invaded in 1982, responding to attacks by the Palestine Liberation Organization. This included Beirut, where Israeli forces, along with right-wing Israel-allied Christian Lebanese militias, laid siege to the western part of the capital to drive out Palestinian militants.

Israel’s operation led to the deaths of over 17,000 people, according to reports and an Israeli inquiry into a massacre at a Beirut refugee camp. The investigation held Israel indirectly responsible for the massacre carried out by the Christian Lebanese fighters.

The rise of Hezbollah: As droves of Palestinian fighters left Lebanon, a band of Shia Islamist militants trained by Iran burst onto the scene. In 1983, two suicide bombers linked to the faction attacked a US Marine barracks in Beirut, killing almost 300 US and French personnel and civilians.

A year later, Iran-linked fighters bombed the US Embassy in Beirut, killing 23 people. In 1985, those militants coalesced around a newly founded organization: Hezbollah.

Support for Gaza: Hezbollah is part of a larger Iran-led alliance of militant groups spanning Yemen, Syria, Gaza, and Iraq that has increasingly clashed with Israel and its allies since the war with Hamas started — and has vowed to continue until the war ends.

Killing of key leader: Tensions escalated when Israel said it killed Hezbollah’s most senior military commander, Fu’ad Shukr, with a strike on Beirut in July. In retaliation, Hezbollah launched hundreds of drones and missiles into Israel.

Displaced residents: The increase in cross-border fighting has forced people from their homes in both Israel and Lebanon. Israel this month made it a war objective to return tens of thousands of Israel’s northern residents to their homes near the border. Lebanon has recorded more than 100,000 people displaced, but authorities said the true number is likely much higher.

About 10 projectiles were fired from Lebanon toward northern Israel Saturday morning, the Israeli military said.

Hezbollah said it fired rockets toward northern Israel in response to Israeli attacks on Lebanese cities and villages.

“[Hezbollah militants] bombarded the settlement of Kabri with Fadi-1 rockets,” the group said in a statement on Saturday.

Meanwhile, a CNN team in Beirut saw smoke rising from the city’s southern Dahiyeh neighborhood as the sun rose over Lebanon’s capital.

This post has been updated with Hezbollah’s statement.

Israel’s military said it had launched a new round of airstrikes in Lebanon’s Beqaa region, according to a statement on Saturday morning.

The announcement followed an earlier round of strikes overnight in the area.

Israeli attacks killed at least six Palestinians and injured others in Gaza overnight, according to statements from the Palestinian Civil Defense in the strip.

Four people were killed in the bombardment of a house in Rafah, the Civil Defense spokesperson said in a statement late Friday. Two others were killed in an attack at the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, the spokesperson added on Saturday.

CNN cannot independently verify the reports and has reached out to the Israeli military for comment.

Hospitals in Beirut’s southern Dahiyeh suburb will be evacuated following deadly Israeli strikes on the area overnight, Lebanon’s Ministry of Health said Saturday.

Israeli military strikes Friday and Saturday flattened buildings in the south of the Lebanese capital, killing at least six people and wounding dozens of others, according to the ministry.

It also called on hospitals and health centers to prepare to receive displaced patients from Dahiyeh.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin speaks with CNN.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned Friday of “devastating” consequences if Israel engages in an all-out war with Hezbollah, telling CNN in an exclusive interview that casualties would “equal or exceed” the number in Gaza.

The defense secretary, reiterating the US’ desire for a “diplomatic solution,” also said a possible ground incursion by Israeli forces into Lebanon risks spiraling the situation into a regional conflict.

The US and several prominent allies believed they had achieved a 21-day pause in fighting that would give time for diplomacy and could prevent a full-fledged war from breaking out between Israel and Hezbollah. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said reports of an imminent deal were “incorrect” and vowed to continue to hit the Iran-backed militant group “with all our might.”

Netanyahu spoke at the United Nations General Assembly Friday morning, where he vowed to continue Israel’s military efforts and warned “there is no place in Iran that the long arm of Israel cannot reach.”

Read more from Austin’s CNN interview.

Smoke billows over Beirut's southern suburbs after a night of Israeli strikes, as seen from Sin El Fil, Lebanon, on September 28, 2024.

The sun has risen in Beirut after a night of explosions rocked the Lebanese capital, as Israel said it carried out strikes on the headquarters of the Iran-backed paramilitary group Hezbollah and its arms depots.

Here’s what we know so far:

Displaced people gather at Beirut's central Martyrs' Square, as Israel strikes Beirut's southern suburbs on September 28, 2024.

It was 3 a.m. and southern Beirut was under the most intense bombardment it had seen in nearly 20 years. A CNN team drove past a sea of people camped out on sidewalks, mostly on the seaside boardwalk that hugs the coast in the still untouched western parts of the city.

These were the displaced from neighborhoods being pummelled by Israeli warplanes. Some were chatting on the curb, a few lay asleep on benches and on the ground. Women cradled sleeping babies and toddlers. Children wandered the streets, snaking through double-parked cars aimlessly in their pyjamas.

On the city’s commercial Hamra Street, a crowd outside an abandoned building forced the traffic to a near stop. A man knocked down the iron gate, allowing a flood of displaced people in for shelter. A fresh wave of arrivals pulled up. Visibly exhausted women emerged from the cars hauling their kids, blankets and mattresses.

Most people were carrying little more than the clothes on their backs as they rushed out in search of safety. Many tried to put on a brave face, the anxiety lying under the thin veneer of bravado. “We’re OK! I’m sure our home is OK. There’s nothing to worry about,” one women in her early 60s told a group of people around her.

It was sleepless night in the Lebanese capital. The streets were busier than usual in the early hours of Saturday morning. Restaurants and cafes were open, serving food and coffee as the images of the explosions lighting up the night sky, just a few miles away, flashed on TV screens.

As we crisscrossed the city in our car, the Israeli military issued fresh evacuation orders for the residents of not yet struck parts of southern Beirut. One of the listed neighborhoods was Bourj el Barajneh, a densely populated area that includes a Palestinian refugee camp and where many poorer migrants live. Less than 30 minutes later, Israeli forces began strikes there.

Whether many of those residents managed to make it out on time is unclear. Meanwhile the people of Beirut wait to see what has become of their homes, their city and its civilians.

Israel’s military said it was striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley, according to a statement on Saturday.

“Over the past hour, the IDF has struck additional terror targets belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization in the area of Beqaa,” the statement said.

The announcement came as dozens of explosions rocked the Lebanese capital of Beirut.

The Beqaa valley, located in the east of the country along the border with Syria, has come under repeated Israeli airstrikes over the past week.

On Thursday, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warned that humanitarian needs in the area were outpacing the capacity of aid agencies to respond with residents forced to flee their homes and shelters struggling to house them.

Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Beirut's southern suburbs, on Saturday, September 28.

The Israeli military issued another evacuation order for residents of Al-Barajneh and Al-Hadath neighborhoods to leave specific locations indicated on maps in Beirut’s southern Dahiyeh.

Those buildings include some near a school in the Al-Barajneh neighborhood, a densely populated Palestinian refugee camp that is also home to Syrian refugees and migrant workers. Adraee also ordered residents to evacuate the buildings in front of and near another school in Al-Hadath.

Shortly after the evacuation order was issued, a CNN team in Beirut saw at least four airstrikes hit multiple locations in the southern suburbs.

The evacuation order comes after an earlier one in which Adraee also told residents in several buildings in the Al-Laylaki neighborhood to evacuate, as well as in Al-Hadath.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it is striking buildings in Beirut, Lebanon, that it alleges are used by Hezbollah as command centers and weapons production and storage sites.

The statement comes hours after the IDF began striking buildings in the Dahiyeh neighborhood in southern Beirut.

Hezbollah has denied that its weapons are being stored in civilian buildings targeted by Israeli strikes.