In more than a week, intense Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon killed seven commanders and officials of the powerful Hezbollah group, including the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
The move left Lebanon and the Mideast reeling as Israeli officials celebrated a major military and intelligence breakthrough.
Hezbollah has opened a platform to support its ally Hamas in the Gaza Strip after a day of surprise attacks by the Palestinian group in southern Israel.
The recent strikes in Lebanon and the assassination of Nasrallah are a major escalation of the war in the Middle East, this time between Israel and Hezbollah.
The powerful military and political force in Lebanon now finds itself trying to recover from a difficult situation, having lost key members who have been part of Hezbollah since its formation in the early 1980s.
Foremost among them was Nasrallah, who was killed in a series of airstrikes on several buildings south of Beirut. Others were less well-known abroad, but still important to Hezbollah’s operations.
Hassan Nasrallah
Since 1992, Nasrallah had led the group in several wars with Israel, and oversaw the group’s transformation into a powerful player in Lebanon. Hezbollah entered the political arena of Lebanon while participating in regional conflicts that made it the most powerful military force. After Syria’s 2011 uprising descended into civil war, Hezbollah played a key role in keeping Syrian President Bashar Assad in power. Under Nasrallah, Hezbollah also helped develop the capabilities of other Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq and Yemen.
Nasrallah is part of the division in Lebanon, his supporters praise him for ending the Israeli regime in the south of Lebanon in 2000, while his opponents criticize him for piling up the group’s weapons and making joint decisions that they say is working for Tehran and its allies.
Nabil Kaouk
Kaouk, who was killed in an airstrike on Saturday, was the deputy head of Hezbollah’s Supreme Council. He joined the militant group in its early days in the 1980s. Kaouk also served as Hezbollah’s military commander in southern Lebanon from 1995 to 2010. He made several media appearances and gave speeches to fans, including at funerals of slain Hezbollah terrorists. He was seen as a potential successor to Nasrallah.
Ibrahim Akil
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Akil was the top commander and head of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Forces, which Israel has been trying to push away from its border with Lebanon. He was also a member of the highest military organization, the Jihad Council, and had been on the United States’ most wanted list for years. The US State Department says Akil was part of a group that bombed the US Embassy in Beirut in 1983 and organized the taking of German and American hostages.
Ahmad Wehbe
Wehbe was the commander of the Radwan Forces and played an important role in the development of this group since it was founded almost twenty years ago. He was killed along with Akil in a plane crash in Beirut south of the city that destroyed a building.
Ali Karaki
Karaki led Hezbollah in the south, which plays a key role in the ongoing conflict. The US has described him as a key figure in the leadership of the terrorist group. Little is known about Karaki, who was killed along with Nasrallah.
Mohammad Surour
Sourur was the head of Hezbollah’s drone unit, which was used for the first time in the current conflict with Israel. Under his leadership, Hezbollah introduced explosive and reconnaissance drones to Israel, which entered its defense systems that focused primarily on the group’s rockets and missiles.
Ibrahim Kobeissi
Kobeissi led Hezbollah’s missile division. The Israeli military says Kobeissi masterminded the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli soldiers on the northern border in 2000, whose bodies were returned in a prisoner swap with Hezbollah four years later.
Some senior commanders were killed in action
Even in the months before the latest escalation of the war with Hezbollah, the Israeli military was targeting top commanders, especially Fuad Shukur in late July, hours before an Iranian bomb widely blamed on Israel killed the leader of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh. . The US accuses Fuad Shukur of planning the 1983 bombing in Beirut that killed 241 American soldiers.
The leaders of key units in the south, Jawad Tawil, Taleb Abdullah, and Mohammad Nasser, who over the decades became key members of Hezbollah’s military force were all killed.
Who is left?
Nasrallah’s second-in-command Naim Kassem is the organization’s most senior member. Kassem has been the deputy leader of Hezbollah since 1991, and is among its founding members. On several occasions, local networks quickly speculated that an Israeli strike south of Beirut might target Kassem.
Kassem is the only senior official in the militant group to have given interviews to local and international media in the ongoing conflict.
The deputy leader appears to be involved in various aspects of the militant group, both in high-level political and security matters, but also in matters related to Hezbollah’s plans for theology and philanthropy of the Shia Muslim community in Lebanon.
Meanwhile, Hashim Safieddine, who heads Hezbollah’s central council, is said to replace Nasrallah. Safieddine is a cousin of the late Hezbollah leader, and his son is married to the daughter of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a US airstrike in 2020. Like Nasrallah, Safieddine joined Hezbollah early and similarly wore a black turban. .
Talal Hamieh and Abu Ali Reda are the two remaining top Hezbollah commanders alive and are apparently in charge of the Israeli military.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
