Israeli airstrikes killed dozens of senior Hezbollah commanders in Lebanon—as well as more than 400 fighters—during the first year of the Gaza war, as the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians increasingly spilled across the border. The Israeli campaign against the Lebanese militia was initially conducted on fighters deployed south of the Litani River. It stopped short of attacking Beirut or the upper echelons of Hezbollah’s military, apparently calibrated to avoid sparking a full-scale war.
But Israeli military operations intensified in mid-2024. The first major turning point was an airstrike on July 30, 2024 that killed Fuad Shukr, Hezbollah’s most senior military official and a close advisor to chief Hassan Nasrallah, in a residential building in the Dahiyeh, a Hezbollah stronghold in southern Beirut. Tensions escalated further on Sept. 17 and 18, 2024, when Israel triggered sophisticated cyberattacks on pagers and walkie-talkies in the possession of Hezbollah fighters and followers based in Beirut, southern Lebanon, the eastern Bekaa Valley as well as in Syria. More than 30 were killed and more than 3,000 were injured in the back-to-back operations.
On Sept. 20, Israeli warplanes then killed several senior commanders in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan unit as the special forces officers met in southern Beirut. Among them was Ibrahim Aqil, commander of the Radwan unit. We will continue pursuing our enemies in order to defend our citizens, even in Dahiya, in Beirut,” said Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. He added that the operation marked “a new phase of war.”
Shukr and Aqil had long played major roles in orchestrating attacks against U.S. and Israeli targets. Both men had played a role in the 1983 suicide bombing of U.S. Marine peacekeepers, which killed more than 240 and injured more than 100. Aqil was also allegedly involved in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut; more than 60 were killed and 120 injured. The United States had issued rewards for Shukr ($ 5 million) and Aqil ($ 7 million).
Hezbollah—Iran’s closest ally in the Middle East and the most heavily armed non-state actor in the world—has long been considered the centerpiece of Tehran’s “forward defense.” Formed with Iranian backing in 1982, Hezbollah symbolized Iran’s grand strategy to create proxy forces across the Middle East to promote the Islamic Republic’s interests and ideology. The following is a list of senior Hezbollah commanders killed in Israeli operations between October 2023 and September 2024.
Jan. 8, 2024: Wissam Hassan al Tawil, a senior commander in Hezbollah’s Radwan unit, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the village of Majdel Selm. He was responsible for the strike on Israel’s Mount Meron just before his death, and previously facilitated weapons transfers to the Syrian Arab Army and the Houthis in Yemen.
Jan. 9, 2024: Ali Hussein Burji, the Hezbollah aerial force commander in southern Lebanon, was killed in an Israeli drone strike near the town of Khirbet Selm.
Feb. 15, 2024: Ali Muhammad al Debes, a senior commander in the Radwan unit, and his deputy Hassan Ibrahim Issa were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a building in Nabatieh. Al Debes reportedly planned and facilitated the deadly attack at Megiddo junction in Israel.
March 21, 2024: Qassem Saqlawi, commander of the rocket and missile array in Hezbollah's Coastal Sector, was killed in an Israeli airstrike.
March 29, 2024: Ali Abed Akhsan Naim, the deputy commander of Hezbollah’s rocket and missiles unit, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Bazourieh.
March 31, 2024: Ismail al Zin, senior commander in the anti-tank missile unit of Hezbollah’s Radwan unit, was killed by an Israeli warplane in the village of Kounine.
April 8, 2024: Ali Ahmad Hassin of Hezbollah’s Radwan unit was killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon.
April 16, 2024: Ismail Yusef Baz, Hezbollah coastal commander, and Muhammad Hossein Matzafa Shouri, rocket and missile unit commander in the Radwan unit, were killed in an Israeli drone strike near Ain Baal.
April 23, 2024: Muhammad Attiya, a member of Hezbollah’s Radwan unit, was killed in an Israeli overnight strike in southern Lebanon. A separate Israeli airstrike killed aerial defense engineer Hussein Azkoul and another Hezbollah operative.
May 15, 2024: Hussein Makki, a senior commander in Hezbollah’s Southern Front unit, was killed in an Israeli drone strike near Tyre. Makki previously commanded Hezbollah’s coastal division and facilitated several attacks against Israel.
June 12, 2024: Taleb Abdullah, a senior commander, and two other Hezbollah operatives were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the town of Jouaiyya. Abdullah was one of the highest ranking Hezbollah commanders in southern Lebanon.
June 20, 2024: Abbas Ibrahim Hamza Hamada, a Hezbollah field commander in southern Lebanon, was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Jouaiyya.
July 3, 2024: Mohammad Naameh Nasser, head of Hezbollah’s Aziz unit, was killed in an Israeli airstrike near the southern city of Tyre.
July 8, 2024: Mustafa Hassan Salman, an operative in Hezbollah's Rockets and Missiles Unit, was killed in an overnight strike from an Israeli aircraft in the Qlaileh area of southern Lebanon.
July 9, 2024: Yasser Nemr Qranbish, a former bodyguard of Hezbollah secretary general Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli strike on a car in Syria near the border with Lebanon. He had facilitated weapons shipments to the group.
July 30, 2024: Fuad Shukr, a top Hezbollah military commander, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on a residential building in Haret Hreik, a southern suburb of Beirut and a Hezbollah stronghold. Shukr served on the Jihad Council, Hezbollah’s highest military body. He had played a central role in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine Corps Barracks in Beirut. Israel alleged that he was responsible for the rocket attack on the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on July 27 that killed 12 children and teenagers.
Aug. 3, 2024: Ali Nazi Abd Ali, a senior Southern Front operative, was killed in an Israeli strike in the area of Wadi Jilou in southern Lebanon.
Aug. 5, 2024: Ali Jamal al Din Jawad, a Radwan unit commander, was killed in an Israeli drone strike in the village of Aabba in southern Lebanon.
Aug. 6, 2024: Amin Badreddine, the nephew of the late Hezbollah military commander Mustafa Badreddine, and four other Hezbollah fighters were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the town of Maifadoun in southern Lebanon. His rank was not publicized.
Aug. 7, 2024: Hassan Fares Jeshe, the commander of Hezbollah’s anti-tank missile array, was killed in an Israeli drone strike in the village of Jouaiyya in southern Lebanon.
Aug. 13, 2024: Ibrahim Jamil al Ashi and Fadi Muhammad Shihab, Hezbollah Southern Front field commanders, were killed in an Israeli strike on a car in the town of Baraachit in southern Lebanon.
Aug. 17, 2024: Hussein Ibrahim Kasab, a Radwan unit commander, was killed while riding a motorcycle near Tyre, a coastal city in southern Lebanon.
Sept. 20, 2024: Ibrahim Aqil, the commander of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan unit and a member of the Jihad Council, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut. About 10 other Radwan unit commanders were killed in the strike, according to the Israeli military. Aqil was linked to two bombings in 1983 that killed 63 people at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut and 241 U.S. personnel at the U.S. Marine barracks. The United States sanctioned Aqil in 2015 and designated him a “specially designated global terrorist” in 2019. The State Department had offered a reward of up to $7 million for information on him.
Peyton Dashiell, a research assistant at the U.S. Institute of Peace, contributed to this report.