The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Saturday that an IDF strike targeting Hezbollah’s Central Headquarters, located underneath residential buildings in Beirut, resulted in the death of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Lebanese Shia organization Hezbollah, on Friday night.
The IDF maintains that the headquarters constituted a “legitimate military target under international law.” Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas criticized the strike, labelling it a “continuation of the war of genocide against the Palestinian and Lebanese people.”
International humanitarian law prohibits targeting civilian non-combatants, even if legitimate military targets are present among the civilian population. It also forbids using civilians as human shields.
Hostilities have been on the rise near the Lebanese-Israeli border since the October 7th attack by Hamas, as the IDF increases its operations targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon. This escalation has displaced 60,000 people in northern Israel and 90,000 people in Lebanon, as reported by the UN.
Earlier, on September 18th, the situation intensified when Israel detonated thousands of communication devices sold to Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria, resulting in thousands of civilian injuries. The UN described the incident as a “terrifying violation of international law” and international organizations have called for investigations, warning of an impending humanitarian crisis.
There has been global criticism of Israel’s use of white phosphorus incendiary weapons in attacks that fail to distinguish between civilians and combatants. This use violates Article 2 of the Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Incendiary Weapons (Protocol III).
Hezbollah is recognized as a terrorist organization in several Western nations, including the US and the UK.
Last Thursday, multiple Western nations called for a temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. Although the IDF claims it intends to de-escalate, a briefing on Saturday confirmed ongoing strikes on Hezbollah’s “strategic assets,” including an arsenal of anti-ship missiles allegedly supplied by Iran.