The Lebanese group Hezbollah has confirmed the death of Hassan Nasrallah, its longtime leader, in an air strike on the group’s underground headquarters near the capital, Beirut.

Hours after Israel claimed killing the 64-year-old Nasrallah, the Iran-backed Hezbollah on Saturday said its leader “has joined his fellow martyrs” and pledged it would “continue the holy war against the enemy and in support of Palestine” amid fears that a regional war is now inevitable.

Israel carried out a large strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs on Friday evening, which it said targeted the Hezbollah leader, flattening at least six residential buildings.

Nasrallah, who led Hezbollah for more than three decades, is by far the most powerful target to be killed by Israel in weeks of intensified fighting with Hezbollah. According to the United Nations, more than 50,000 people have fled Lebanon for Syria, as Israel’s attacks on Lebanon have killed at least 700 people since Monday.

Israeli jets pounded south Beirut and its outskirts throughout the night into Saturday, in the most intense attacks on the Hezbollah stronghold since the group and Israel last went to war in 2006.

Nasrallah had rarely been seen in public since 2006. He was elected secretary-general of Hezbollah in 1992, aged 32, after an Israeli helicopter gunship killed his predecessor, Abbas al-Musawi.

Hezbollah

The Lebanese group confirmed in a statement its leader had been killed “following the treacherous Zionist strike on the southern suburbs” of Beirut.

The group’s statement said Nasrallah had “joined his great and immortal martyred comrades, whose path he led for nearly 30 years, during which he led them from victory to victory”.

The group said it pledged “to the highest, most sacred and most precious martyr in our journey” to “continue its jihad in confronting the enemy, in support of Gaza and Palestine, and in defence of Lebanon and its steadfast and honourable people”.

Hamas

Hamas has condemned the killing of the Lebanese leader as “cowardly, terrorist act”.

“We condemn in the strongest terms this barbaric Zionist aggression and targeting of residential buildings,” the group said in a statement, accusing Israel of disregarding “all international values, customs and charters” and “blatantly threaten[ing] international security and peace, in light of silence, helplessness and international neglect”.

“In the face of this Zionist crime and massacre, we renew our absolute solidarity and stand united with the brothers in Hezbollah and the Islamic resistance in Lebanon,” the group said.

Fatah

The Palestinian Fatah movement also offered condolences and condemned the assassination, emphasising “the historical relationship between the Lebanese people and their resistance and Palestine”.

Iran

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian issued a statement saying Nasrallah’s killing “will only further strengthen the resistance”. He added the US cannot deny complicity in Nasrallah’s killing.

The country’s foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said in a post on X that “the glorious path of the Resistance leader … will continue and his sacred goal of liberating Jerusalem will be achieved.”

Iranian Vice President Mohammad Javad Zarif also expressed his condolences, praising Nasrallah as a “symbol of the fight against oppression”.

Earlier, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei condemned what he called Israel’s “short-sighted” policy in the region.

“The massacre of the defenceless people in Lebanon once again… proved the short-sighted and stupid policy of the leaders of the usurping regime,” Khamenei said in a statement before Hezbollah officially announced its leader’s death.

Iraq

Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani condemned the attack as “shameful” and “a crime that shows the Zionist entity has crossed all the red lines”.

In a statement, Sudani called Nasrallah “a martyr on the path of the righteous”, and declared a three-day mourning period.

It came shortly after influential Iraqi Shia Muslim leader Muqtada al-Sadr also announced three days of mourning. The leader of the Sadrist movement in Iraq wrote on X: “Farewell to the companion of the path of resistance and defiance.”

Turkey

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned Israel’s recent attacks in Lebanon as part of what he called an Israeli policy of “genocide, occupation, and invasion”, urging the UN Security Council and other bodies to stop Israel.

In a post on X, Erdogan, without naming Nasrallah, said Turkey stood with the Lebanese people and its government, offering his condolences for those killed in the Israeli strikes, while saying the Muslim world should show a more “determined” stance.

France

The French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs said in a statement that it is in contact with the Lebanese authorities and France’s partners in the region to prevent destabilisation and conflagration.

Jean-Luc Melenchon, a left-wing French politician and former Member of the European Parliament, said the assassination “is one more step towards the invasion of Lebanon and general war”.

In a post on X, he said: “France no longer counts on the ground. Netanyahu’s crimes will continue since they are unpunished. The danger is extreme for the region and the world.”

Russia

Russia’s foreign ministry has released a statement where it strongly condemns Israel’s killing of Nasrallah and calls on Israel to stop hostilities in Lebanon.

“This forceful action is fraught with even greater dramatic consequences for Lebanon and the entire Middle East,” the statement said.