Israel says it 'eliminated' Hezbollah chief in Beirut strike

Israel's military said on Saturday it had "eliminated" Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an air strike on Friday. The Israel Defense Forces said in statement that the Israeli fighter jets launched an air strike on the group's command facility "embedded under a residential building" in Beirut's southern suburbs, which have long been a stronghold of the group.

The Friday afternoon strike was the latest in a series of massive explosions targeting leaders of the militant group, which has been firing rockets and drones across Lebanon's southern border into Israel for almost a year. Nasrallah had been in hiding for years, very rarely appearing in public. He regularly gave speeches, but always by video from unknown locations.

The site hit Friday evening had not been publicly known as Hezbollah's main headquarters, though it is located in the group's "security quarters," a heavily guarded part of Haret Hreik where it has offices and runs several nearby hospitals. The Pentagon said the U.S. had no advance warning of the strikes.