Lebanon’s Hezbollah confirmed on Saturday that its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike in south Beirut on Friday, with Yemen’s Houthis and Palestinian militant group Hamas mourning Nasrallah’s death. The Israeli military reported that the airstrike was precise and targeted Hezbollah’s leadership meeting at their headquarters in Dahiyeh. Nasrallah had led Hezbollah for over 30 years.
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.
It is being perceived that killing Nasrallah, who has led Hezbollah for 32 years, would deliver a substantial blow to the organisation. But that is not what it seems. Palestinian militant group Hamas said on Saturday (September 28, 2024) it mourned Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah following his killing in an Israeli airstrike, saying his death would only fuel the fight against Israel.
According to Lebanon’s health ministry, at least 11 people were killed and 108 were injured due to the airstrikes on Friday. This marked the largest blast to hit the Lebanese capital in the past year, likely pushing the escalating conflict closer to full-scale war. Israel maintained a heavy barrage of airstrikes against Hezbollah on Saturday, as Hezbollah launched dozens of rockets toward Israel. The Israeli military said it was mobilising additional reserve soldiers as tensions escalated with Lebanon.
This means that the war is far from over. It will only intensify, which means the casualties of ordinary civilians will mount further.
The strikes represent a direct challenge to Tehran, for whom Nasrallah represented its most important strategic regional ally, whose tens of thousands of Iranian-supplied missiles aimed at Israel have long been seen as a key strategic foil preventing an Israeli attack on Iran itself.
Other Iranian allies, including in Iraq, Syria and Yemen, have their own missiles and drones, which, while not as significant as Hezbollah’s, could be brought into play – and not necessarily only against Israel but against US targets.
Then there is the most important question: whether Iran can accept the strike against Nasrallah, or whether it too could be drawn into a widening conflict, and whether the strike is intended by Israel as setting the conditions for a strike against Iran.
Underlying that concern, Iran’s embassy in Beirut condemned Israel’s airstrike, saying on Friday night – before Israel’s claim that Nasrallah had been killed – that the attacks “represent a serious escalation that changes the rules of the game”, and that Israel would be “punished appropriately”.
Next week, it will be the first anniversary of the attacks on Israel by Hamas militants. This unwarranted strike, just to bring the world attention towards Palestine, has led to unimaginable losses of lives and property. As of 23 September 2024, over 43,000 people (41,431 Palestinian and 1,706 Israeli) have been reported as killed in the Israel–Hamas war, including 116 journalists.
The vast majority of casualties have been in the Gaza Strip where, over 60% of Gazans have lost family members since 7 October 2023.
The world powers must intervene to end this cycle of violence, which has taken thousands of lives already. This conflict is turning out to be a zero-sum game. Nobody is going to gain anything from this violence, but there is everything to lose. The body bags of innocent lives, who will be killed in the crossfire, are going to pile up further. Conflict has never solved any problem. Rather it has only sown seeds for more destruction.
Conflict resolution through dialogue is the need of the hour.
The big powers led by USA should make efforts to broker peace with the warring parties. There has to be a long-term assurance of no further aggression and the two-State solution has to prevail as a permanent solution.
If the cycle of violence is not broken immediately, it will have far reaching consequences and entire world will have to pay a heavy price for it. Already enough lives have been lost since the Arab-Israel war of 1967. The adversaries of Israel would have known by now that this Jewish country is not a pushover. More they attack on Israel, more will be the retaliation and this won’t stop till there is complete annihilation.
It is hoped that good sense prevails on Iran and Israel that there is no point attacking each other like this. Power games mustn’t be played at the cost of people’s lives, who have got nothing to do with conflicts as they are outcome of political games played by leaders.