TEHRAN- Lebanese Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has been confirmed martyred in the Israeli massive air strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut on Friday night.

In response, the Hezbollah resistance movement has fired ballistic missiles at sensitive sites inside the occupied territories in Israel.

The assassination of the Hezbollah leader is expected to push the region toward new developments.

The unprecedented Israeli air raids on southern Beirut on Friday night leveled four building blocks. 

Releasing a statement, Hezbollah described Nasrallah as a "brave, faithful, and insightful leader" who joined the martyrs. 

Here are some highlights from the statement posted on Al Jazeera website:

*His Eminence, the Master of Resistance, the righteous servant, has passed away to be with his Lord and to His pleasure as a great martyr,

*His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Secretary-General of Hezbollah, has joined his great, immortal martyr comrades whose path he led for nearly thirty years, during which he led them from victory to victory.

*We offer our condolences … to Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei, may his shadow endure, the great authorities, the mujahideen, the believers, the nation of resistance, our patient and struggling Lebanese people, the entire Islamic nation, all the free and oppressed people in the world, and his honorable and patient family.

*We offer our condolences and congratulations to his fellow martyrs who joined his pure and holy procession following the treacherous Zionist raid on the southern suburb.

*The leadership of Hezbollah pledges … that it will continue its jihad in confronting the enemy, in support of Gaza and Palestine, and in defense of Lebanon and its steadfast and honorable people.

*To the honorable mujahideen and the victorious and triumphant heroes of the Islamic Resistance, you are the trust of the beloved martyr Sayyid [Nasrallah].

Born in 1960 in Beirut, Nasrallah was elected the secretary general of Hezbollah in February 1992 after the assassination of Sayyed Abbas Mousavi.

He was the third secretary general of Hezbollah which was established in 1982. Nasrallah was one of the founders of the liberation movement.

The Hezbollah movement turned into a regional power under his leadership that succeeded in driving out Israel from southern Lebanon in 2000.

In a message released on Saturday before the official announcement that the Hezbollah chief has been martyred in the Friday attacks, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reminded Israel of its past defeats at the hands of Hezbollah, warning that their current aggression in Lebanon will ultimately result in regret. Ayatollah Khamenei predicted that the Israeli aggression will only strengthen the Resistance movement.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry has said inaction in the face of the crimes by malicious and rogue Israeli regime will harm the entire world in the near future. 

Iraq announces three days of mourning

Iraqi Prime Minister Shia al-Sudani declared a three-day mourning period over the martyrdom of the Hezbollah leader.

“To God we belong and to Him we shall return,” a statement said by the prime minister's office.

It came shortly after influential Iraqi Shia Muslim leader Muqtada al-Sadr also announced three days of mourning.

Hamas mourns assassination of Hezbollah leader  

“We extend our sincere condolences, sympathy and solidarity to the brotherly Lebanese people and brothers in Hezbollah and the Islamic resistance in Lebanon,” Hamas said in a statement.

“We condemn in the strongest terms this barbaric Zionist aggression and the targeting of residential buildings … in the southern suburb of Beirut, and we consider this a cowardly act of terrorism, a massacre and a heinous crime, which proves once again the bloodiness and brutality of this occupation,” the resistance group added.

Hamas hailed Nasrallah’s support of the Palestinian cause and also condemned the US for supporting Israel.

“History has proven that the resistance against the Zionist enemy, in all its factions and places of presence, whenever its leaders go as martyrs, has a generation of leaders to lead them on the same path,” the Palestinian resistance movement stated.