Israel had been tracking the movements of Hezbollahs Hassan Nasrallah for months before Benjamin Netanyahu this week gave the green light to launch an attack to kill the terror boss.
The mission was years in the making and culminated with the Israeli prime ministers visit to New York, designed to trick Nasrallah into thinking he was safe.
The intense bombing of Beirut began just three hours after Mr Netanyahu gave a speech at the United Nations on Friday afternoon in which he vowed to continue the fight against the terror organisation.
Israelis prime minister gave the go-ahead to the IDFs unprecedented heavy bombardment of the Lebanese capital during a call to defence minister Yoav Gallant, who remained in Tel Aviv.
Shortly after 5pm, several missiles rained down on the Hezbollah HQ, located under residential buildings in Beirut, where Nasrallah was thought to be located.
This is the moment Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave the green light to unprecedented strikes against Hezbollah targets in Beirut, Lebanon
Israel have killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah (pictured in 2015) in strikes on Beirut
Israel released a graphic showing the Hezbollah senior figures who had so far been eliminated - adding that they had dismantled the group
Yesterday it was confirmed Israel had got their man; Nasrallah was dead in what one expert said would cause irreversible damage for Hezbollah of which they would never recover from.
Mr Netanyahu said on Saturday that Israel had settled the score with the killing of the Nasrallah.
For the previous 11 days, Israel had steadily implemented its mission to kill Nasrallah with a meticulous attack on the terror group.
Last Friday, senior Hezbollah leaders were killed in an Israeli airstrike with the IDF claiming they were meeting to plot another October 7-style attack on Israel.
Isaac Herzog said: All of these leaders came together in order to launch the same horrific, horrendous attack that we had on October 7 by Hamas, by burning Israelis, by butchering them, raping their women, abducting and taking hostage people and little babies.
Two of Hezbollahs top leaders were killed and at least 14 others as they met in the basement of a Beirut residential building.
Speaking after Nasrallahs killing, Mr Netanyahu said: We settled the score with the one responsible for the murder of countless Israelis and many citizens of other countries, including hundreds of Americans and dozens of French, he said, adding that Israel had reached what appears to be a historic turning point in the fight against its enemies.
Hassan Nasrallah spoke to the world in front of a red screen last Thursday, insisting that the deadly attacks deserve a response before launching salvoes of rockets towards Israel
Footage emerging on social media show the intensity of the bombardment over Beirut
Hellscape: The night sky in Beirut turned orange and red amid intense strikes from the IDF
Netanyahu said he had not intended to come to New York to address the UN assembly this year, but felt compelled to do so to set the record straight
The more (Hamas leader Yahya) Sinwar sees that Hezbollah will no longer come to his aid, the greater the chances of returning our captives, he said, adding that Israel was determined to continue striking our enemies.
But Israel has ominously warned there is more to come as Israels top army geenral Lt Gen Herzi Halevi warned: This is not the end of our toolbox.
We have more capacity going forward, he told reporters. Anyone who threatens the state of Israel, we will know how to reach them.
Lina Khatib, an associate fellow at Chatham House, the international affairs think tank, said Nasrallahs killing is going to cause irreversible damage for Hezbollah and I dont think it will be able to recover from it.
I think we are seeing both a historic shift in Hezbollahs power and a historic shift in the trajectory of Irans influence in the Middle East, she said.
In a televised address, Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari said the militarys strike on Hezbollahs central command on Friday was very precise.
In the last few days, we revealed who Hezbollah is hiding in southern Lebanon, and now we will reveal how it is planting strategic weapons and means of warfare in the heart of Beiruts Dahieh - so that buildings will serve as a shield, he said.
The strikes came shortly after Netanyahu vowed to continue the fight against Hezbollah in his UN General Assembly address, insisting: My country is at war, fighting for its life.
We must defend ourselves against these savage murderers. Our enemies seek not only to destroy us, they seek to destroy our common civilization and return all of us to a dark age of tyranny and terror, he told delegates.
In a message he addressed to the tyrants of Tehran, he said: If you strike us, we will strike you... There is no place in Iran where the long arm of Israel cannot reach. And that is true for the entire Middle East.
Mr Netanyahu left Israel for New York to trick Hezbollahs leader into thinking he was safe, a senior Israeli official has told the Telegraph.
His address to the UN was part of a diversion intended to make Hezbollahs leader believe that they would not take action while Mr Netanyahu was physically in the US.
Netanyahu approved the strike before delivering his speech at the UN, the official said.
It comes as the IDF released a graphic on social media showing the Hezbollah senior figures who had so far been eliminated - adding that they had dismantled the group.
At least six have been killed as the Israeli air force targeted Hezbollah production sites they claimed were under civilian housing, although this number is expected to rise today and charities say the country is facing the prospect of a humanitarian catastrophe.
A source close to Hezbollah told AFP on condition of anonymity that contact with Nasrallah had been lost since Friday evening.
He had been rumoured killed during Israels last war with Hezbollah in 2006, the source said, adding that he later re-emerged unscathed.
A military statement said the strikes also killed Ali Karake, who the statement identified as commander of Hezbollahs southern front, and an unspecified number of other Hezbollah commanders.
During Hassan Nasrallahs 32-year reign as the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, he was responsible for the murder of many Israeli civilians and soldiers, and the planning and execution of thousands of terrorist activities, the statement said.
Flames rise after an Israeli airstrike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon this morning
Irans Supreme Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (pictured) called on Muslims to confront and assist the wicked regime of Israel with whatever means they have
People check a damaged building at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Choueifat, south east of Beirut
He was responsible for directing and executing terrorist attacks around the world in which civilians of various nationalities were murdered.
Nasrallah was the central decision-maker and the strategic leader of the organisation.
The IDF further claimed to have eliminated the head of the Palestinian Hamass network in southern Syria, whom it referred to as Ahmad Muhammad Fahd.
In a statement, they said that he had been killed while planning an imminent terror attack and had previously carried out multiple attacks, including rocket fire on the Golan Heights.
And in Lebanon, they said strikes had killed the commander of Hezbollahs missile unit in the south of the country, Muhammad Ali Ismail, and his deputy, Hussein Ahmad Ismail, who they claimed had taken part in numerous attacks on Israel.
Terrified families have been pictured fleeing the country - many of whom are Syrian refugees who have already had to leave due to fighting in their homeland.
More than 50,000 have now crossed into Syria fleeing airstrikes, with well over 200,000 displaced within Lebanon, the UN high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi, has said.
Nasrallah had become a shadowy figure, seldom making public appearances in spite of his reputation in Lebanon.
He came to the worlds attention last week when he vowed swift retaliation for a series of explosions across the country.
Lebanon is still reeling from the detonations of thousands of mobile paging devices and walkie talkies last Tuesday and Wednesday respectively, killing dozens and injuring thousands.
The government held Israel accountable for the attack, but notably it was Hezbollah that threatened direct action. For its part, Israel denies any involvement in the explosions.