Iran warns Hezbollah leader’s death ‘will not go unavenged’
Iran’s supreme leader has stated that the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah “will not go unavenged,” following his killing in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared five days of mourning in Iran for what he referred to as the “martyrdom of the great Nasrallah,” describing him as a “path and a school of thought” that will endure.
Reports from Iranian media indicate that an Iranian Revolutionary Guards general was also killed in the Israeli attacks in Beirut on Friday. Israel’s military claimed that Nasrallah had “the blood of thousands… on his hands” and that he was targeted while orchestrating “more imminent attacks.”
There are concerns that this strike could escalate tensions in the region, which has already seen nearly a year of cross-border confrontations between Israel and Hezbollah, fueled by the attacks on October 7 and the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip.
The next steps in the Middle East largely depend on Ayatollah Khamenei’s decisions. So far, he and other senior Iranian officials have not publicly pledged retaliation for the recent severe blows inflicted on Hezbollah by Israel, seemingly to avoid provoking a war with their longtime adversary. Iran has also not followed through on its threats to avenge the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July, which was attributed to Israel by Iran and Hamas.
Both Hezbollah and Hamas are designated as terrorist organizations by Israel, the U.S., the U.K., and other nations. Earlier on Saturday, Khamenei called on Muslims to support Hezbollah “with their resources and help,” but he did not guarantee a response to the strike that killed Nasrallah.
He asserted, “The fate of this region will be determined by the forces of resistance, with Hezbollah at the forefront.”
Reuters news agency meanwhile cited two regional officials as saying that the supreme leader had been transferred to a secure location inside Iran with heightened security measures. They also said Iran was in constant contact with Hezbollah and other allies to determine their next steps, according to the report.
Friday’s Israeli strike leveled several buildings in Beirut’s southern suburb of Dahieh, underneath which the Israeli military said Hezbollah’s central headquarters was located.
Hezbollah confirmed Nasrallah’s death on Saturday. But it did not comment on the Israeli military’s claim that Ali Karaki, the head of the group’s Southern Front, and other commanders were killed alongside Nasrallah.
Gen Abbas Nilforoushan, deputy commander of operations for Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), was also “martyred” in Dahiyeh on Friday, according to the IRGC-linked Saberin News outlet.
It provided no further details, although the moderate Didban news website said he was “assassinated along with” Nasrallah.
However, there has been no official confirmation from Iranian authorities.
Iran uses the IRGC to provide Hezbollah with most of its funding, training, and weapons, which has allowed the Shia Islamist group to build a military wing stronger than the Lebanese army.
The US says the IRGC also oversees the coordination of Iran’s network of allied armed groups across the Middle East, which are all opposed to the US and Israel and sometimes refer to themselves as the “Axis of Resistance”. Besides Hezbollah, they include Hamas, the Houthis in Yemen and Shia militias in Iraq and Syria.
On Saturday, there were air raid sirens in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv after the Houthis launched a missile in support of Hezbollah. The Israeli military said the missile was intercepted.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iraqi militias, also claimed new drone attacks on northern Israel and the occupied Golan Heights.
Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East programme at the UK-based think tank Chatham House, said Iran’s reputation among its allies was “certainly damaged” and that it would be “looking for some way to turn the tables and save some face”.
“This could result in a co-ordinated axis response, including from Iraq and the Houthis, or another direct Iranian strike on Israel itself,” she said.
“By maintaining pressure or even escalating, Tehran is aware that this will invite further attacks, but it will choose to do so keep pressure on Israel.”
