Hezbollah confirms leader Hassan Nasrallah killed in Israeli airstrike

Hezbollah has confirmed its leader for the past three decades, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon on Friday and vowed to continue the battle against Israel.

The Israeli military said Nasrallah was killed in a "targeted strike" on what it identified as the group's underground headquarters beneath a residential building in Dahiyeh — a Hezbollah-controlled southern suburb of Beirut.

It said he was killed along with another top leader, Ali Karaki, and other commanders with Hezbollah, a Lebanon-based Shia militant group formed in 1982 primarily to combat Israeli forces in southern Lebanon.

A statement from Hezbollah issued Saturday said Nasrallah "has joined his fellow martyrs" and it vowed to "continue the holy war against the enemy and in support of Palestine."

"The strike was conducted while Hezbollah's senior chain of command were operating from the headquarters and advancing terrorist activities against the citizens of the State of Israel," it said.

Friday's airstrike on Dahiyeh shook Beirut. A security source in Lebanon said the attack — a quick succession of massively powerful blasts — had left a crater at least 20 metres deep.

It was followed on Saturday by further airstrikes on Dahiyeh and other parts of Lebanon. Huge explosions lit up the night sky and more strikes hit the area in the morning. Smoke rose over the city.

Residents have fled Dahiyeh, seeking shelter in downtown Beirut and other parts of the city.

The fighting has prompted the Canadian government to book blocks of seats on commercial flights to help Canadians get out of Lebanon.

"Yesterday's [Friday's] strikes were unbelievable. We had fled before and then went back to our homes, but then the bombing got more and more intense, so we came here, waiting for Netanyahu to stop the bombing," said Dalal Daher, speaking near Beirut's Martyrs Square, where some of the displaced were camping out.

She was referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Hezbollah also continued its cross-border rocket fire, setting off sirens and sending residents running for shelter deep inside Israel. Israeli missile defences blocked some of them and there was no immediate report of injuries.

The escalation has increased fears the conflict could spin out of control, potentially drawing in Iran, Hezbollah's principal backer, as well as the United States.

Israel demands that Hezbollah move its fighters and weapons from a border area close to northern Israel in order to protect more than 60,000 Israeli who live there, and allow them to return to their communities.