How Israel killed Hezbollah’s leader in underground bunker
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. BEIRUT—Hassan Nasrallah and other senior leaders of Hezbollah were under siege as they gathered Friday afternoon in a bunker more than 60 feet beneath the surface of a bustling working class neighborhood in southern Beirut. A series of Israeli attacks had killed many of the Lebanese militant group’s senior leaders, blown up its electronic devices and destroyed some of its vast arsenal of missiles.
Some planned to use the meeting to express frustration that Iran was restraining them from responding more forcefully to the Israeli attacks, according to people familiar with Hezbollah’s discussions. Around dusk, massive explosions shook the city above. Israel’s air force had struck the bunker with about 80 tons of bombs, according to several people familiar with the matter.
The attack used a series of timed, chained explosions to penetrate the subterranean bunker, a senior Israeli military official said. When it was over, a pillar of orange smoke rose above Beirut. And Hassan Nasrallah, the fierce and charismatic Islamist who had led Hezbollah for more than three decades, was dead.
His death leaves a void at the top of the world’s most heavily armed nonstate militia, which is designated as a terrorist group by the U.S. It was a transformative event for the Middle East. Friday’s strike capped a series of killings by Israel that wiped out nearly an entire generation of Hezbollah leaders, throwing Iran’s most valuable militia ally into disarray.
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