In
just over a week, intensified Israeli strikes in Lebanon killed seven
high-ranking commanders and officials from the powerful Hezbollah militant
group, including the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
The
move left Lebanon and much of the Mideast in shock as Israeli officials
celebrated major military and intelligence breakthroughs.
Hezbollah
had opened a front to support its ally Hamas in the Gaza Strip a day after the
Palestinian group’s surprise attack into southern Israel.
The
recent strikes in Lebanon and the assassination of Nasrallah are a significant
escalation in the war in the Middle East, this time between Israel and
Hezbollah.
Lebanon’s
most powerful military and political force now finds itself trying to
recuperate from severe blows, having lost key members who have been part of
Hezbollah since its establishment in the early 1980s.
Chief
among them was Nasrallah, who was killed in a series of airstrikes that leveled
several buildings in southern Beirut. Others were lesser-known in the outside
world, but still key to Hezbollah’s operations.
Hassan Nasrallah
Since
1992, Nasrallah had led the group through several wars with Israel, and oversaw
the party’s transformation into a powerful player in Lebanon. Hezbollah entered
Lebanon’s political arena while also taking part in regional conflicts that
made it the most powerful paramilitary force. After Syria’s uprising in 2011
spiraled into civil war, Hezbollah played a pivotal role in keeping Syrian
President Bashar Assad in power. Under Nasrallah, Hezbollah also helped develop
the capabilities of fellow Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq and Yemen.
Nasrallah
is a divisive figure in Lebanon, with his supporters hailing him for ending
Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon in 2000, and his opponents decrying him
for the group’s weapons stockpile and making unilateral decisions that they say
serves an agenda for Tehran and allies.
Nabil Kaouk
Kaouk,
who was killed in an airstrike Saturday, was the deputy head of Hezbollah’s
Central Council. He joined the militant group in its early days in the 1980s.
Kaouk also served as Hezbollah’s military commander in south Lebanon from 1995
until 2010. He made several media appearances and gave speeches to supporters,
including in funerals for killed Hezbollah militants. He had been seen as a
potential successor to Nasrallah.
Ibrahim Akil
Akil
was a top commander and led Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Forces, which Israel has
been trying to push further away from its border with Lebanon. He was also a
member of its highest military body, the Jihad Council, and for years had been
on the United States’ wanted list. The U.S. State Department says Akil was part
of the group that carried out the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut
and orchestrated the taking of German and American hostages.
Ahmad Wehbe
Wehbe
was a commander of the Radwan Forces and played a crucial role in developing
the group since its formation almost two decades ago. He was killed alongside
Akil in an airstrike in Beirut’s southern suburbs that struck and leveled a
building.
Ali Karaki
Karaki
led Hezbollah’s southern front, playing a key role in the ongoing conflict. The
U.S. described him as a significant figure in the militant group’s leadership.
Little is known about Karaki, who was killed alongside Nasrallah.
Mohammad Surour
Surour
was the head of Hezbollah’s drone unit, which was used for the first time in
this current conflict with Israel. Under his leadership, Hezbollah launched
exploding and reconnaissance drones deep into Israel, penetrating its defense
systems which had mostly focused on the group’s rockets and missiles.
Ibrahim Kobeissi
Kobeissi
led Hezbollah’s missile unit. The Israeli military says Kobeissi planned the
kidnapping and murder of three Israeli soldiers at the northern border in 2000,
whose bodies were returned in a prisoner swap with Hezbollah four years later.
Other senior commanders killed in
action
Even
in the months before the recent escalation of the war with Hezbollah, Israel’s
military had targeted top commanders, most notably Fuad Shukur in late July,
hours before an explosion in Iran widely blamed on Israel killed the leader of
the Palestinian Hamas militant group Ismail Haniyeh. The U.S. accuses Fuad
Shukur of orchestrating the 1983 bombing in Beirut that killed 241 American
servicemen.
Leaders
of key units in the south, Jawad Tawil, Taleb Abdullah, and Mohammad Nasser,
who over several decades became instrumental members of Hezbollah’s military
activity were all assassinated.
Who is left?
Nasrallah’s
second-in-command Naim Kassem is the most senior member of the organization.
Kassem has been Hezbollah’s deputy leader since 1991, and is among its founding
members. On several occasions, local news networks were quick to assume that an
Israeli strike in southern Beirut may have targeted Kassem.
Kassem
is the only top official of the militant group who has conducted interviews
with local and international media in the ongoing conflict.
The
deputy leader appears to be involved in various aspects of the militant group,
both in top political and security matters, but also in matters related to
Hezbollah’s theocratic and charity initiatives to the Shia Muslim community in
Lebanon.
Meanwhile,
Hashim Safieddine who heads Hezbollah’s central council, is tipped to be
Nasrallah’s successor. Safieddine is a cousin of the late Hezbollah leader, and
his son is married to the daughter of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was
slain in a U.S. drone strike in 2020. Like Nasrallah, Safieddine joined
Hezbollah early on and similarly wears a black turban.
Talal
Hamieh and Abu Ali Reda are the two remaining top commanders from Hezbollah who
are alive and apparently on the Israeli military’s crosshairs.