Hezbollah gets body-blow: Top commander Ali Karaki killed in Israeli airstrike after Hassan Nasrallah & Nabil Kaouk

Hezbollah on Sunday confirmed the death of Ali Karaki, the commander of the Southern Front and the third-highest official in command, in an Israeli airstrike. Karaki was killed alongside Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) strike on Beirut on Friday.

Earlier, the IDF claimed the death Karaki in Friday’s airstrike on Beirut, which targeted, what the military said, an underground compound where senior Hezbollah figures were meeting.

The IDF—commonly known as Tzahal—further claimed the Friday strike killed at least 20 other Hezbollah leaders, including two close associates of Islamist leader Nasrallah, one of whom was in charge of his security detail.

“More than 20 other terrorists of varying ranks, who were present at the underground headquarters in Beirut located beneath civilian buildings, and were managing Hezbollah's terrorist operations against the state of Israel, were also eliminated” AFP quoted the IDF statement. Other names listed by the Israeli military include Abed al-Amir Muhammad Sablini and Ali Naaf Ayoub.

Karaki, the commander of the Southern Front, was born in 1967 in Ain Bouswar, Nabatieh Governorate, located in the south of Lebanon. After completing his higher studies, he joined the ranks of Hezbollah during the Lebanese Civil War. Over time, he rose through the ranks and took part in the 2006 Lebanon War. Karaki later became a member of Hezbollah's Jihad Council, which is Hezbollah's supreme command.

In February 2024, Israel attempted to assassinate him in a car bombing in Nabatieh, but he was not in the target vehicle.

In another development, IDF on Sunday said Nabil Kaouk, the deputy head of Hezbollah’s Central Council, was killed in an airstrike in Lebanon.Tel Aviv said it had struck “dozens” of fresh targets on Sunday. However, there was no immediate comment from Hezbollah and it was not known where the strike took place. However its supporters have been posting mourning messages for him since Saturday.

A wave of Israeli airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon has killed at least 1,030 people — including 156 women and 87 children — in less than two weeks, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry.

(With inputs from agency)