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The Israeli military said Saturday morning that it had killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a massive attack on Beirut. This is the latest in a series of devastating blows against the Lebanese militant group.

“Hassan Nasrallah. . . was eliminated by Israeli forces along with Ali Karki, commander of Hezbollah’s Southern Front, and other Hezbollah commanders,” the Israeli military announced.

The attack capped a dramatic escalation by Israel in recent weeks that has severely dented Hezbollah’s capabilities and raised fears that years of hostilities between the two sides are on the verge of erupting into all-out war.

Nasrallah’s death, if confirmed by Hezbollah, would be by far the worst blow suffered by the Iran-backed militant group.

Nasrallah’s role in the so-called Resistance Axis of Iran-backed militant groups gained prominence after the U.S. assassination of Qassem Soleimani, Iran’s most powerful commander, in 2020.

Nasrallah’s death would cast doubt on the future of Hezbollah, the Islamic revolutionary group founded by Iran during the Lebanese civil war in the 1980s.

The cleric’s death would also plunge Lebanon into chaos. Nasrallah, who led Hezbollah since 1992, oversaw its rise to the highest political force in the country and a virtual state within a state.

He enjoyed great authority in Lebanon and throughout the Middle East, where he was compared in historical stature to PLO leader Yasser Arafat and Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser.

The attack on Nasrallah was part of an intensive bombardment of sites across Lebanon that killed more than 600 people and displaced more than 90,000.

The attacks came after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a defiant speech at the United Nations in New York on Friday that Israel must “defeat” the Lebanese militant group despite international pressure for a ceasefire.

This came after a massive two-week escalation by Israel in which its forces assassinated a number of senior Hezbollah commanders.

Earlier this week, Israel called up two reserve brigades for “operational missions” in the north of the country, and Herzi Halevi, the military chief, urged troops to prepare for a possible ground offensive in Lebanon.

The Israeli military said it would continue its bombing campaign on Saturday, carrying out “extensive” bombing raids in the Bekaa Valley in the east of the country, as well as attacking more targets in the capital Beirut, after warning civilians in some densely populated neighborhoods not to evacuate.

This is a developing story. . .