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Israel is tracking and assassinating leaders from the Hezbollah group in Lebanon and the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, amid a sharp escalation in confrontations that have been ongoing for nearly a year.
Below is a list of some of the assassinations that targeted the most prominent leaders of Hezbollah and Hamas, in which the finger of blame was pointed at Israel.
– Hezbollah
* Hassan Nasrallah
The group announced on Saturday the killing of its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in confirmation of the Israeli army’s announcement that it had killed him in an air strike on Beirut the previous day.
His death represents a painful blow to Hezbollah, which is suffering from an escalating campaign of Israeli attacks.
* Ibrahim Qubaisi
Two security sources in Lebanon said that an air strike on the southern suburb of Beirut on September 24 killed Qubaisi, the commander and senior member of Hezbollah’s missile system.
* Ibrahim Aqeel
An Israeli raid on the southern suburb of the capital, Beirut, on September 20, killed Hezbollah operations commander Ibrahim Aqeel, a member of the group’s highest-ranking military body.
Aqeel, who used pseudonyms including Tahseen and Abdul Qader, is a member of the Jihad Council, the highest military body in the Hezbollah group.
The United States accused Aqeel of involvement in the bombing of the American embassy in Beirut with truck bombs in April 1983, which killed 63 people, and the bombing of a US Marine barracks six months later in an incident that killed 241 American soldiers.
* Ahmed Wehbe
Ahmed Wehbe was killed in an Israeli strike that targeted a number of senior leaders, including Ibrahim Aqeel, in the southern suburb of Beirut on September 20.
Wahbi is a senior commander who supervised the military operations of the Radwan Force, Hezbollah’s elite force, in the Gaza war until early 2024.
* Fouad Shukr
An Israeli strike on the southern suburb of Beirut on July 30 killed the group’s senior military commander, Fouad Shukr, who the Israeli army described as the right-hand man of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah.
The United States imposed sanctions on Shukr in 2015 and accused him of playing a central role in the 1983 bombing of the US Marine barracks in Beirut.
* Muhammad Nasser
Muhammad Nasser was killed in an Israeli air strike on July 3.
Israel claimed responsibility, saying he was leading the unit responsible for firing on it from southwest Lebanon.
According to senior security sources in Lebanon, Nasser, a senior Hezbollah commander, was responsible for part of Hezbollah’s operations on the border.
* Talib Abdullah
Senior Hezbollah field commander Talib Abdullah was killed on June 12 in a raid for which Israel claimed responsibility and said it bombed a command and control center in southern Lebanon.
Security sources in Lebanon said that he was the commander of Hezbollah in the central region of the southern border strip and was of the same rank as Nasser.
His assassination prompted Hezbollah to launch a massive barrage of rockets across the border into Israel.
– agitation
* Muhammad Al-Deif
The Israeli military said that Muhammad Al-Deif was killed after fighter jets launched an airstrike in the Khan Yunis area on July 13, following an intelligence assessment. Al-Deif had survived seven Israeli assassination attempts.
Al-Deif is believed to have been one of the masterminds of the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel. Hamas did not confirm his death.
* Ismail Haniyeh
Hamas announced the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh early in the morning on July 31 in Iran.
Haniyeh was killed by a missile that directly hit him in an official guesthouse in Tehran where he was staying. Israel did not claim responsibility for his assassination.
* Saleh Al-Arouri
Al-Arouri, deputy head of Hamas’ political bureau, was killed in a drone attack targeting the movement’s office in the southern suburb of Beirut on January 2, 2024.
Al-Arouri was also the founder of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas.
