Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah File photo: VCG

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Saturday that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an airstrike on the Lebanese organization's target in the southern suburbs of Beirut, with Chinese analysts saying this may further escalate regional conflict.

Hezbollah confirmed the death of its leader Nasrallah later on the same day after the IDF released the statement, the Washington Post reported on Saturday.

Earlier on Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said "Iran will stand with Lebanon and Axis of Resistance."

Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei tweeted on Saturday, "The Lebanese haven't forgotten there was a time when the soldiers of the occupying regime were advancing toward Beirut, & Hezbollah stopped them & made Lebanon proud. Today too, by the grace & power of God, Lebanon will make the transgressing, malicious enemy regret its actions." 

Iran's Revolutionary Guard general Abbas Nilforushan was also killed in the airstrike, media reported. 

Israel has intensified its airstrikes across Lebanon since Monday, marking the most extensive military actions in the region since 2006, Xinhua reported.  

Chinese analysts said Israel's latest airstrike, as well as massive pagers explosions and other operations, are making a statement that with US indulgence, Israel can strike any place and kill any person in the region. 

The reported death of Nasrallah will inevitable has an impact on the command structure of Hezbollah and cause further escalation of regional tension, Liu Zhongmin, a professor at the Middle East Studies Institute of Shanghai International Studies University, told the Global Times.