ANKARA

The Israeli army on Saturday claimed the "liquidation" of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a recent airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburb.

In a statement on X, Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee said Nasrallah was ‘liquidated’ during an operation targeting the central command of Hezbollah located beneath a residential building in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

Adraee explained the airstrike was conducted with “precise intelligence from the military's intelligence agency,” targeting a location where Hezbollah's leadership was reportedly coordinating attacks against Israel.

He added that the operation also resulted in the deaths of Ali Karki, the leader of Hezbollah's southern front, and several other Hezbollah commanders.

Separately, the daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported that Hezbollah leader Nasrallah was killed following an airstrike that dropped 80 tons of bombs on his location in southern suburb of Beirut.

“Over 80 tons of explosives, including bunker-busting bombs, were used to attack Hezbollah's command bunker in the strike that killed Hassan Nasrallah,” said the daily.

Hezbollah is yet to comment on the claims.

Israel has pounded Lebanon since early Monday with strikes that have killed more than 700 victims and injured nearly 2,200, according to figures released by the Lebanese Health Ministry.​​​​​​​

The ministry also said that the death toll in Lebanon since last October is 1,540, in addition to the more than 77,000 displaced from the southern and eastern parts of the country.

Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the start of Israel's onslaught on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 41,500 victims, mostly women and children, following a cross-border attack by Hamas last Oct. 7.

The international community has warned against the strikes on Lebanon, as they raise the specter of turning the Gaza conflict into a regional war.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi in Ankara