J&K polls | Mehbooba suspends poll campaign to express solidarity with Hezbollah chief

PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti cancelled her election campaign on Sunday (September 29) in solidarity with the people of Lebanon after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Beirut.

Taking to social media platform X, the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said, “Cancelling my campaign tomorrow in solidarity with the martyrs of Lebanon and Gaza especially Hassan Nasarullah. We stand with the people of Palestine and Lebanon in this hour of immense grief and exemplary resistance.”

Also Read: Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah killed in airstrike: Israel

Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary-general of the Hezbollah, was killed along with his daughter Zainab on Friday after Israeli forces launched a series of strikes in the densely populated Dahiyeh suburb of Beirut.

Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani on Saturday declared on X: “Hassan Nasrallah is dead.” Another military spokesperson, Captain David Avraham, also confirmed to news agency AFP that the Hezbollah chief had been “eliminated” in Friday’s airstrikes.

Other Hezbollah operatives such as Ali Karaki, Muhammad Ali Ismail, and Hossein Ahmed Ismail were also killed in the attacks, which continued till late on Saturday.

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"The strike was carried out while the top brass of Hezbollah were at their headquarters and engaged in coordinating terror activities against the citizens of the State of Israel," the Israeli military said.

Meanwhile, a protest march was held in Jammu and Kashmir's Budgam and Srinagar on Saturday against the killing of Hassan Nasrallah by the Israel Defence Force (IDF). People were seen out on the streets in large numbers, carrying pictures of Hassan Nasrallah.