Beirut: A top commander in Hezbollah’s intelligence division was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Dahiyeh suburb of Beirut on Saturday, Times of Israel reported. Quoting the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), the local media reported Hassan Khalil Yassin, who headed a unit in Hezbollah’s intelligence division was killed in the latest airstrike.
Who is Hassan Khalil Yassin?
The IDF claimed the top Hezbollah member was tasked with locating Israeli military and civilian sites in Israel to be targeted. According to the Israeli military, he worked "closely" with Hezbollah’s rocket, missile, and drone units. Besides, he was "personally involved in terror plots that were carried out from the beginning of the war against civilians and soldiers, and planned additional attacks in the coming days", the TOI reported. However, it was not clear whether he was killed before the Hezbollah chief who attained the same fate on Saturday.
Earlier today, the Israeli military said it had struck dozens of Hezbollah "terror" targets in Lebanon in the past dozen hours, including launchers aimed toward Israel.
Hezbollah Chief killed
It is worth mentioning the latest killing was reported on the same day Israel killed Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in a powerful airstrike in Beirut, dealing a heavy blow to the Iran-backed group as it reels from an escalating campaign of Israeli attacks.
The Israeli military said on Saturday it had eliminated Nasrallah in the strike on the group's central command headquarters in Beirut's southern suburbs on Friday. Hezbollah confirmed he had been killed, without saying how.
Nasrallah's death is a major blow to both Hezbollah and Iran, removing an influential ally who helped build Hezbollah into the linchpin of Tehran's network of allied groups in the Arab world.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the killing of Nasrallah as a necessary step toward "changing the balance of power in the region for years to come." "Nasrallah was not a terrorist, he was the terrorist," Netanyahu said in a statement, warning of challenging days ahead.
US President Joe Biden described Nasrallah's death as a measure of justice for what he called his many victims, including thousands of Americans, Israelis and Lebanese, and said the US fully supported Israel's right to self-defence.
(With inputs from agency)
