Hezbollah confirms seventh top commander killed in Israeli attacks in recent days – San Diego Union-Tribune

Authors: MELANIE LIDMAN and KAREEM CHEHAYEB

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military said Sunday it had killed another senior Hezbollah official in an airstrike as the Lebanese militant group reeled from a series of devastating blows and the assassination of its overall leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

The military reported that Nabil Kaouk, deputy head of Hezbollah’s Central Council, was murdered on Saturday. Hezbollah confirmed his death, making him the seventh senior Hezbollah leader killed in Israeli attacks in just over a week. They include founding members who have avoided death or arrest for decades.

The Israeli military said it launched another targeted attack on Beirut on Sunday, with details to be provided below.

Hezbollah earlier confirmed that Ali Karaki, another senior commander, was killed in Friday’s strike that killed Nasrallah. The Israeli military earlier said Karaki was killed in an airstrike that targeted an underground complex in Beirut where Nasrallah and other senior Hezbollah figures were meeting.

Israel said the attack killed at least 20 other Hezbollah fighters, including two close associates of Nasrallah, one of whom was responsible for his protection.

More than two days later, the wreckage of the strike was still smoldering. On Sunday, Associated Press reporters saw smoke above the rubble as people gathered at the site, some to check what was left of their homes and others to pay their respects, pray or just see the destruction.

Hezbollah was also the target of a sophisticated attack on its pagers and walkie-talkies, which was widely blamed on Israel. According to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, 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.

Recent strikes have driven hundreds of thousands of people from their homes in Lebanon. The government estimates about 250,000 people are staying in shelters, and three to four times as many are staying with friends or relatives or camping on the streets, Environment Minister Nasser Yassin told the AP.

Hezbollah continued to fire rockets and missiles into northern Israel, but most of them were intercepted or landed in open areas. No Israelis have been killed since the latest wave of attacks against top Hezbollah leaders began on September 20.

Kaouk was a Hezbollah veteran dating back to the 1980s and served as a Hezbollah military commander in southern Lebanon during the 2006 war with Israel. He often appeared in local media, commenting on political and security developments, and also delivered eulogies at the funerals of senior fighters. The United States announced sanctions against him in 2020.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel after an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas from Gaza sparked a war there. Hezbollah and Hamas are allies that consider themselves part of the Iran-backed “Axis of Resistance” against Israel.

Israel responded with waves of airstrikes, and the conflict steadily escalated to the brink of all-out war, raising fears of conflagration throughout the region.

Israel says it is committed to returning about 60,000 of its citizens to northern communities that were evacuated almost a year ago. Hezbollah has said it will only halt rocket fire if a ceasefire is suspended in Gaza, which has proved elusive despite months of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas, led by the United States, Qatar and Egypt.

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Chehayeb reported from Beirut.

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Follow AP war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Originally published: September 29, 2024 at 2:09 am