On Friday evening Israel time, the IDF struck the Central Headquarters of the Hezbollah terror organization, which was embedded under residential buildings in the heart of the Dahieh area of southern Beirut, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said.
The IDF announced: “At this time there is no change to the IDF Defensive Guidelines. If any changes will be made, an update will be released on the IDF and Home Front Command’s official platforms.”
Soon after news of the strike broke, reports started emerging that Hezbollah terror leader Hassan Nasrallah was targeted in the strike along with other top Hezbollah officials.
At this time, the IDF has yet to confirm if Nasrallah is alive or not. Hezbollah has also not released an official announcement, although a senior Hezbollah official told Reuters that Nasrallah is alive.
A senior US official confirmed Nasrallah was the target of the strike, and that he was in Beirut, along with his senior associates, at the time the strike occurred. Sabrina Singh, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said the US was not warned of the strike in advance, but that Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant spoke with US Secretary of Defense Austin as the strike was ongoing.
Reportedly, Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu ok’d the strike shortly before taking the podium for his speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. Given the nature of the events, the Prime Minister’s Office said that “Prime Minister Netanyahu decided to move up his return to Israel, and will take off from the United States this evening.”
Bibi’s flight is scheduled to leave New York on Friday night, and Bibi is expected to hold situational assessments at the Kirya base in Tel Aviv upon landing back in Israel.
Israel is reportedly working to figure out if Nasrallah was in fact killed in the strike. One Israeli official confirmed there are indications Nasrallah was in the Hezbollah headquarters at the time it was hit, but that no confirmation has been made about his status.
Lebanese sources have told Sky News Arabic that the delay in any official reaction from Hezbollah may indicate that Nasrallah was in fact eliminated.
That sentiment was echoed by Joe Truzman of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and an expert on Palestinian terror groups, who tweeted: “It certainly doesn’t bode well for Hezbollah to delay an official statement about Nasrallah’s fate.”
IDF Radio quoted a senior Israeli defense official as saying: “Whoever was in the Hezbollah headquarters at the time of the strikes – did not come out alive.”
There are conflicting reports coming out of Lebanon about the fate of Hashem Safieddine, Nasrallah’s cousin and the head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council. Some reports have claimed he was injured or eliminated in the strike, but a source in the terrorist organization told Reuters that Safieddine is alive.
Preliminary assessments from the Ministry of Health in Lebanon put the death toll at two and the injured at 76, but those numbers are expected to rise.
According to the New York Times, quoting two Iranian officials, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has called an emergency meeting of the Supreme National Security Council at his home compound, due to the strike targeting Nasrallah.
Following the strike, the IDF released a YouTube video in which IDF Spokesperson RAdm. Daniel Hagari announced Israel has targeted Hezbollah’s central command center. However, Hagari did not mention Nasrallah or give any indications about his status in the video.

Footage from Beirut showed the intensity of the strikes.