PDP's Mehbooba Mufti Halts J-K Poll Campaign For A Day After Death Of Hezbollah Leader Nasrallah

People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti in a social media post on Saturday announced that she is cancelling her campaigning plans on Sunday in solidarity with the people of Lebanon after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Beirut.

“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,” the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said in a social media post.

Nasrallah was the face of Hezbollah, enjoying cult status among his Shiite Muslim supporters, and was the only man in Lebanon with the power to wage war or make peace.

Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said: “His elimination makes the world a safer place.”

In Tehran, posters of Nasrallah were put up bearing the slogan “Hezbollah is alive”.

Israel killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in a huge air strike in Lebanon, dealing the movement a seismic blow that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday called a “turning point” for his country.

Hezbollah confirmed Nasrallah’s death after the Israeli military said he had been killed in an air strike Friday on the southern suburbs of Beirut, the Iran-backed group’s main bastion.

Some Israelis celebrated his killing, while in Lebanon, his supporters’ disbelief gave way to anguished mourning.

Around the region, leaders condemned the slaying while some Hezbollah allies vowed vengeance, fuelling fears of more violence in the Middle East after nearly a year of war in Gaza.

“Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah… has joined his great, immortal martyr comrades whom he led for about 30 years,” Hezbollah said in a statement.