Hezbollah has confirmed the deaths of its senior leader Ali Karaki, head of the southern front, and the group's Secretary-General, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in Israeli airstrikes targeting Beirut’s southern suburbs.
In a statement on Sunday, Hezbollah announced that Karaki “was martyred with a group of his jihadist brothers in the enemy’s criminal raid on Haret Hreik, along with Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.”
The Israeli airstrikes on Friday evening targeted Hezbollah’s main headquarters in Dahieh, Beirut’s southern suburbs, killing Nasrallah and other high-ranking commanders, according to Xinhua news agency.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) also claimed on Sunday that it had killed Nabil Qaouk, commander of Hezbollah’s Preventive Security Unit and a central council member, in an airstrike on Saturday.
The IDF did not disclose the location of the strike. Qaouk was described by the IDF as being “close to the top of” Hezbollah and actively involved in plotting attacks against Israel.
Qaouk was designated a global terrorist by the US in October 2020 for his association with deceased Hezbollah terrorists and his involvement in events commemorating Qasem Soleimani, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander killed in a US drone strike in January 2020.
The airstrikes also levelled several residential buildings, causing at least six deaths and 91 injuries, along with significant damage to local infrastructure, according to local media reports.
These latest attacks mark a significant escalation in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, which began on 8 October 2023 when Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza, prompting Israeli artillery fire and airstrikes in southern Lebanon.
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