Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is “alive and fine” after Israel targeted the group’s central headquarters in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Friday, as Iran vowed to ‘punish’ Israel for ‘dangerous game-changing escalation’.

Israeli media outlets claimed that Nasrallah was present during the strikes. Axios cited an Israeli source as saying the Hezbollah leader was the target of the strike and that the Israeli military was checking if he was hit.

A source close to Hezbollah told Reuters that Nasrallah “is alive,” while Iran’s Tasnim news agency also reported he was “safe.”

A senior Iranian security official told the news agency that Tehran was checking his status.

Moreover, a source close to the group also spoke on the same wavelength with AFP. “Sayyed Nasrallah is fine,” the source said, requesting anonymity.

Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari stated that the operation aimed at the Hezbollah headquarters, which was allegedly constructed beneath residential buildings to exploit them as human shields.

Reports from Israeli media also indicated that the military employed bunker buster bombs, designed to penetrate deep underground before detonating, during the assault.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has shared a photo purportedly depicting him approving the airstrike on Hezbollah’s headquarters in Beirut. The image appears to show Netanyahu at his hotel in New York.

In a related announcement, Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant posted a photograph that he claimed showed him monitoring the airstrike from the Israeli Air Force’s underground command center. The image features Gallant alongside Herzi Halevi, the Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, and Tomer Bar, the head of the Israeli Air Force.

Later, a post from Nasrallah’s X account said: “Hashem Safieddine, the head of Hezbollah’s executive council and who is also Sayyed’s cousin, is alive and safe, Alhamdulillah.”

He urged his followers to refrain from “sharing enemy’s spread lies.”

Hezbollah’s al-Manar television reported that four buildings were destroyed and there were many casualties in the multiple strikes, which marked a major escalation of Israel’s conflict with the heavily armed, Hezbollah.

Israel has struck the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut, known as Dahiyeh, four times over the last week, killing at least three senior Hezbollah military commanders.

But Friday’s attack was far more powerful, with multiple blasts shaking windows across the city, recalling Israeli airstrikes during the war it fought with Hezbollah in 2006.

Meanwhile, Iran’s embassy in Lebanon condemned Israel’s attack on the southern suburbs of Beirut and described it as a “dangerous game-changing escalation” that would lead to “appropriate punishment” for those responsible.

This statement follows Israeli PM Netanyahu’s address at the UN General Assembly, where he asserted that the “long arm of Israel” was capable of reaching the “tyrants of Tehran” anywhere in Iran and the broader Middle East.

Several delegations walked out as Netanyahu approached the lectern while supporters in the gallery cheered.

US did not have advance warning of Israeli strike in Beirut: Pentagon

The United States had no advance warning of an Israeli strike in Beirut and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart as it was ongoing, a Pentagon spokesperson said on Friday.

They were the US government’s first comments about an Israeli operation that defied Washington’s calls for de-escalation and a ceasefire.

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“The United States was not involved in this operation and we had no advanced warning,” spokesperson Sabrina Singh told reporters.

Singh declined to say what Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told Austin about the operation and whether it targeted Nasrallah. The Pentagon declined to speculate on whether Nasrallah was still alive.

Austin and Gallant spoke as the Pentagon chief flew over the Atlantic after a visit to London.

(With input from Reuters)