Hezbollah announced the martyrdom of its secretary general, Hassan Nasrallah, on Saturday, hours after the Israeli army announced his assassination yesterday in intensive raids on the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

Nasrallah had led Hezbollah since February 1992, making him the party’s third secretary-general: Abbas al-Musawi, who was assassinated by Israel on 16 February 1992, and Sheikh Subhi al-Tufaili, the party’s founder.

Nasrallah has lived under tight security since he won a resounding victory in repulsing Israeli aggression and liberating southern Lebanon in 2006, forcing the enemy to withdraw in defeat after 33 days of bloody fighting.