Middle East tensions: Israel has intensified its air raids in Lebanon in the last few days, resulting in the elimination of seven high-ranking commanders and officials from powerful armed militant group in the country – Hezbollah – including its chief Hassan Nasrallah. The move has sent shivers down the spine in the Middle East of an all-out war, besides one already underway in Gaza. Hezbollah had opened a front on Israel’s northern border in solidarity with the Palestinians and support Hamas in the Gaza Strip, a day after the Palestinian group’s deadly attack into southern Israel.
The recent strikes in Lebanon and, on top of that, the assassination of Nasrallah can be major contributing factors behind the escalation of 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.
Nasrallah was a key figure known to the world to be eliminated in a series of airstrikes over the past weeks. Others were lesser-known in the outside world, but still key to Hezbollah’s operations.
Let’s take a look at all 7 key Hezbollah commanders to be taken down
Hassan Nasrallah
Nasrallah had led Hezbollah since 1992 through several wars with Israel while also overseeing the party’s transformation into a powerful player in Lebanon. Hezbollah, besides being an armed group, entered the country’s political arena and also took part in the regional conflicts, which made it the most powerful paramilitary force.
After Syria’s uprising in 2011 transformed into a civil war, Hezbollah played a decisive role in keeping the 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, the deputy head of Hezbollah’s Central Council, was killed in an airstrike on Saturday (September 28). He had joined Hezbollah in its early days in the 1980s and also went on to serve as its 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 US State Department says Akil was part of the group that carried out the 1983 bombing of the US 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 US 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 the ongoing conflict with Israel. Under his leadership, Hezbollah launched exploding and reconnaissance drones deep into Israel, penetrating its defence systems which had mostly focused on the group’s rockets and missiles.
Ibrahim Kobeissi
Kobeissi led Hezbollah’s missile unit. According to the Israeli military, 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
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 US 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 all are left?
Hashem Safieddine
According to reports, Hashem Safieddine is the next to take over as the chief of Hezbollah. Safieddine is Nasrallah’s cousin. He reportedly has physical resemblance to Nasrallah and has been a part of the group since its early days. Safieddine was designated as Nasrallah’s successor since the 1990s during which he was called back from Iran, where he pursued studies, to Beirut. His son is married to the daughter of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was slain in a US drone strike in 2020. Like Nasrallah, he also wears a black turban.
Naim Kassem
Nasrallah’s second-in-command Naim Kassem is the most senior member of the organisation. Kassem was among the founding members of Hezbollah and has been the deputy leader of the group since 1991. On several occasions, it was quickly assumed that he was a target of an Israeli strike in southern Beirut. Kassem is the only top official of the militant group who has conducted interviews with local and international media in the ongoing conflict
Talal Hamieh, Abu Ali Reda
Talal Hamieh and Abu Ali Reda are the two remaining top commanders from Hezbollah who are alive and apparently on the Israeli military’s target list.
(With AP inputs)
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