Hezbollah has confirmed that its leader Hassan Nasrallah has been killed in an Israeli airstrike.
Nasrallah was Secretary General of Hezbollah for 32 years.
Evangelo Sipsas has the latest updates from Lebanon
#israel #lebanon #beirut #conflict
Nasrallah was Secretary General of Hezbollah for 32 years.
Evangelo Sipsas has the latest updates from Lebanon
#israel #lebanon #beirut #conflict
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NewsTranscript
00:00What we know so far is that the attack that took place on Friday in the compound where
00:06Hassan Asrallah was with a number of other of his commanders was the largest that the
00:11capital of Eritrea has seen in decades.
00:15There were specifically missiles that targeted the bunkers that Hassan Asrallah was with
00:19his commanders.
00:20A bunker that, a missile, sorry, that could actually penetrate bunkers that are even two
00:25to three stories deep into the earth.
00:29These are called the specific bunker buster missiles from Israel.
00:34And just to give you understand how strong the explosion was, six buildings were actually
00:40destroyed, believing that one of that was the headquarters of Hezbollah in the area.
00:44So we're talking about missiles that could penetrate not only bunkers, but could penetrate
00:48the urban or suburban defenses as Hezbollah has been doing.
00:52Now, there has been a lot of grief and a lot of anger over the death of Hassan Asrallah.
00:57People on the streets, people are chanting that Hezbollah was going to continue to live
01:02on.
01:03The soul of Asrallah is going to live on.
01:05A lot of thousands of people have gathered around and have been saying that although
01:11our leader has been killed, our soul is still there and Israel will pay for what has happened
01:17to Hezbollah and its leader.
01:18So very significant developments, Hassan Asrallah's killing.
01:22What could happen next?
01:24What are the implications now?
01:26Well, we have to understand a little bit who Hassan Asrallah was, a very prominent figure
01:33who took the leadership in 1992.
01:37He pretty much grew the organization from just a small organization into a powerful
01:41political and a very strong military force.
01:45So and a lot of stockpile of ourselves.
01:50And he has seen as a father figure here in Lebanon as the person who pushed the Israelis
01:55way during the war of Israel and Lebanon in 2000.
01:59But he also was a controversial figure.
02:01For some others, he was the one who was responsible, who dragged the country into war with Israel
02:05back in 2006.
02:07Now his passing means that someone else needs to take, become the head of Hezbollah.
02:13And Hashem Safaidin, who is his cousin and a prominent cleric, is a prominent and more
02:19natural successor into the group right now.
02:21But what does that mean also is that he will be taking over, if he will be the next leader
02:26of Hezbollah, an organization that has destroyed infrastructure and a lot of pressure from
02:31international power.
02:32So someone who needs to take responsibility of this organization is someone who needs
02:37to really think clearly, because a lot of pressure is going to be coming towards his
02:41side and the organizations, but also an infrastructure and a limited stockpile of arsenal because
02:48of these Israeli airstrikes.
02:50Thank you, Evangelo.
02:51Evangelo Tsipras, our correspondent in Beirut.