With Hassan Nasrallah dead in Israeli airstrikes, the Iran-backed militant group is facing enormous challenges as the region is yet again thrown into uncertainty.
Israel’s killing of Hassan Nasrallah, the long-time Hezbollah leader, has transformed an already complex and deadly regional conflict, with a broad array of potential outcomes for Israel, Gaza, Lebanon and beyond.
Prior to the powerful series of airstrikes that hit several residential buildings in southern Beirut on Friday, analysts in the Mideast had speculated that Nasrallah had left Lebanon following the widespread pager explosions earlier this month, but then soon after returned, as the United States presented an initiative that would lead to a 21-day ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel.
Those thousands of remotely detonated blasts — subsequently sourced to walkie-talkies too — had targeted members and allies of Hezbollah, and represented a significant blow to the group. A subsequent Israeli airstrike had then killed Hezbollah’s chief of staff, and by Friday the Israeli military says Nasrallah was meeting with several other senior commanders.
