World reacts to martyrdom of Hezbollah chief Nasrallah in Israeli strike on Beirut

Messages of condemnation and condolences have been pouring in over the assassination of the secretary general of the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in massive Israeli airstrikes targeting residential apartment buildings in southern Beirut on Friday evening.

Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani said in a statement on Saturday that the Zionist entity crossed all red lines after perpetrating this heinous act of aggression.

“The criminal act that targeted Dahiyeh neighborhood [in southern Beirut] yesterday exposes Israel’s reckless desire to expand the conflict at the expense of regional nations’ security and stability,” the statement added.

He emphasized that international organizations, five permanent members of the UN Security Council and all key regional powers have a responsibility to take decisive action to halt the aggression and prevent the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, which the usurping Tel Aviv regime has been committing for decades.

“This aggression has ramped up in the aftermath of the bloody onslaught against Gaza in early October last year, and has recently extended to Lebanon, where indiscriminate killings have claimed the lives of hundreds of innocent people in a matter of few days. Whose interests are served by the expansion of this brutal ferocity?” Sudani pointed out.

He went on to reaffirm Iraq’s principled stance in standing with Palestinian and Lebanese nations and announced three days of national mourning over the assassination of Nasrallah.

Hezbollah confirms assassination of leader Nasrallah on Israeli strike on Beirut

The Lebanese Hezbollah resistance group has confirmed the assassination of its leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in massive airstrikes against Beirut on Friday evening.

Iraq’s prominent Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani also offered his condolences over the martyrdom of the late Hezbollah leader.

“The great martyr was an unmatched role model.  He played a distinguished role in the victory over the occupying Zionist regime by liberating occupied Lebanese lands, and supported Iraqis with everything he could to help them free their homeland from the clutches of Daesh terrorists,” the top Iraqi cleric said in a statement.

Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani also prayed that Nasrallah’s soul rest in peace, and asked God Almighty to bestow patience and solace to his family and all those who are grieving his loss.

Additionally, Qais al-Khazali, the secretary general of Iraq's Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq resistance group, said Nasrallah scored outstanding victories in the course of struggle against Israel and inflicted heavy defeats on Zionists.

Iraqi Shia Muslim clerics and politicians Muqtada al-Sadr and Seyyed Ammar Hakim, for their parts, offered their sincere condolences over assassination of the Hezbollah chief in an Israeli airstrike on southern Beirut.

Meanwhile, Lebanon and Syria have also declared 3 days of national mourning over the Hezbollah leader's martyrdom.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said the killing of Nasrallah is “yet another political assassination.”

“This forceful action is fraught with even greater dramatic consequences for Lebanon and the entire Middle East… The Israeli side could not fail to recognize this danger, but took the step of killing Lebanese citizens, which would almost inevitably provoke a new outburst of violence. Thus, it bears full responsibility for the subsequent escalation,” the ministry said in a statement.

Order for Israel’s assassination of Nasrallah issued from New York: Iran president

The Iranian president says the order for Israel’s terrorist act to assassinate Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was issued from New York.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also condemned Israel's recent military actions in Lebanon.

“Israel's policy of genocide, occupation, and invasion, which has been ongoing since October 7, now targets Lebanon and the Lebanese people,” Erdogan said on X after the martyrdom of Nasrallah.

He expressed deep concern over the loss of Lebanese lives, including children, in what he described as "brutal attacks."

Erdogan criticized the international community for enabling Israel's actions, saying that as Tel Aviv continues to receive “weapons and ammunition support from its backers,” it becomes “increasingly reckless, defying all humanity, humanitarian values, and international law.”

He stressed that Israel's "politics of madness," already seen in Gaza and Ramallah, must not be allowed to spread to Lebanon and other countries in the region.

The Turkish president called on global organizations, particularly the UN Security Council and human rights groups, to take swift action in response to Israel's aggression.

Israel carried out a large strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs on Friday evening, which it said targeted the Hezbollah leader, flattening at least six residential buildings.

On Friday, Israeli warplanes carried out a large strike against Haret Hreik neighborhood of Beirut’s densely populated southern suburb of Dahiyeh, flattening at least six residential buildings.

The attacks came as part of the regime’s escalation against Lebanon which has been targeting the country since October 7, when Tel Aviv launched a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.

Nasrallah led Hezbollah for more than three decades. He was elected secretary-general of Hezbollah in 1992, aged 32 after an Israeli helicopter gunship killed his predecessor, Sayyed Abbas al-Musawi.

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