Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei condemned on Saturday what he called an Israeli "massacre" in Lebanon after strikes that Israel said killed the Hezbollah leader.

Lebanon's health ministry gave a preliminary toll of six dead and 91 wounded from the latest strikes on Beirut's densely populated southern suburbs since Friday, the fiercest to hit Hezbollah's stronghold since Israel and the group last went to war in 2006.

The Israeli military said on Saturday the killing of Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, one of its "greatest enemies", made the world safer but the group's remaining senior members would still be targeted.

"Nasrallah was one of the greatest enemies of the state of Israel of all time... His elimination makes the world a safer place," military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said at a televised briefing.

A prominent general in Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard died in an Israeli airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut's southern suburbs, Iranian media reported Saturday.

The killing of Gen. Abbas Nilforushan marks the latest casualty suffered by Iran as the nearly yearlong Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip teeters on the edge of becoming a regional conflict. His death further ratchets up pressure on Iran to respond, even as Tehran has signaled in recent months that it wants to negotiate with the West over sanctions crushing its economy.

Iran's foreign ministry said Saturday the path of Hezbollah's chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah will continue despite his killing in an Israeli air strike after a year of cross-border clashes between the two sides.

Hamas on Saturday condemned the killing of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah after the Lebanon-based group confirmed his death in an Israeli strike on south Beirut a day earlier.

"We condemn in the strongest terms this barbaric Zionist aggression and targeting of residential buildings... and we consider it a cowardly terrorist act," the group said in a statement, offering "condolences, and solidarity with the brothers in Hezbollah and the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon on the martyrdom of... Nasrallah."

Hezbollah on Saturday confirmed its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah had been killed, after Israel said it had "eliminated" him in a strike on Beirut's southern suburbs a day earlier.

"Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Secretary General of Hezbollah, has joined his great, immortal martyr comrades whom he led for about 30 years," Hezbollah said in a statement.

Israel's military announced Saturday that Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut the previous night, but there was no confirmation from the Lebanese armed group.

Israeli fighter jets bombarded the southern suburbs of Lebanon's capital Beirut overnight into Saturday, sending panicked families fleeing massive strikes of which one reportedly targeted Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

Israel said it was attacking Hezbollah's headquarters and weapons facilities, while U.S. and Israeli media reported that Nasrallah was the target of the first strike.

Hezbollah launched more than two dozen projectiles toward Israel Saturday morning, triggering sirens in more than 100 cities and towns across Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The Israeli military said a surface-to-surface missile was fired from Lebanese territory and fell in an open area in central Israel. Israeli media said the missile fell in the sea.

EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell has voiced regret that no power, including the United States, can “stop” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying he appears determined to continue fighting in Lebanon and Gaza.