Russia condemns Israel's killing of Hezbollah leader Nasrallah

Russia strongly condemns Israel's killing of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in the Lebanese capital Beirut, the foreign ministry said on Saturday, calling it "yet another political assassination".

"This forceful action is fraught with even greater dramatic consequences for Lebanon and the entire Middle East," the ministry said in a statement.

"The Israeli side could not fail to recognise this danger, but took the step of killing Lebanese citizens, which would almost inevitably provoke a new outburst of violence. Thus, it bears full responsibility for the subsequent escalation."

Israel killed the longtime Hezbollah leader in a powerful airstrike on Friday, dealing a huge blow to the heavily armed Iran-backed group as it reels from an escalating campaign of Israeli attacks.

The Israeli military said on Saturday it had eliminated Nasrallah in the strike on the group's central command headquarters in Beirut's southern suburbs a day earlier. Hezbollah confirmed he had been killed, without saying how.

In its statement, Russian foreign ministry called on Israel to immediately stop hostilities in Lebanon.