An Israeli strike outside the Southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre on Wednesday targeted one of the most senior Hezbollah commanders to be eliminated since the start of the war, the terror group confirmed.
According to Reuters, Muhammad Nimah Nasser was of the same rank and importance to the Iranian proxy as Sami Taleb Abdullah, who was killed in an IDF airstrike last month and was the most senior terrorist to be killed since Hezbollah joined the war in support of Hamas on Oct. 8.
In a statement cited by Al-Akhbar, which is close to Hezbollah, the terror group confirmed the death of “Hajj Abu Nimah,” bestowing upon him the title of “martyr commander.” Israel’s Ynet noted that only two other slain terrorists received the honorific title over the past months.
Lebanese “security sources” told Reuters that Nasser commanded the “Aziz” unit, responsible for terror operations on the southern border.
Confirming the strike, the IDF said, “Nasser entered his position in 2016 and led the rockets and anti-tank missile attacks from southwestern Lebanon toward Israeli civilians, communities and security forces.”
The military continued, “He also directed a large number of terrorist attacks toward Israel both during, and before the war, and he previously held several central roles within the Hezbollah terrorist organization.”
“He was the counterpart of Sami Taleb Abdullah, the commander of the Nasser Unit, who was eliminated last month. Together, they served as two of the most significant Hezbollah terrorists in Southern Lebanon,” the IDF statement concluded.
‘People don’t feel safe to go to their homes’
After Abdullah was killed in June, Hezbollah launched one of its largest barrages of rockets and explosive drones towards the Jewish state’s north, sparking large fires and lightly wounding two civilians.
Following the news of Nasser’s death, air-raid alerts sounded in the northern city of Kiryat Shmona and Kibbutz Manara, warning of renewed rocket attacks from Lebanon and sending the remaining residents of the mostly evacuated border area scrambling for shelter.
Hezbollah subsequently claimed it fired some 100 Katyusha rockets towards military sites in the Golan Heights and Galilee, per Al-Akhbar. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damages in the attacks, which sparked fires in the central Golan Heights, Channel 12 reported.
Hezbollah has attacked Israel’s north nearly every day since Oct. 8, firing thousands of UAVs, rockets and anti-tank missiles at Israeli towns, killing more than 20 people and causing widespread damage. Tens of thousands of Israeli civilians remain displaced due to the violence.
In an interview on Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Israel has “effectively lost sovereignty” over its northern territory.
“People don’t feel safe to go to their homes,” the top diplomat told the Brookings Institute, noting that “absent doing something about the insecurity, people won’t have the confidence to go back.”
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has vowed to continue the attacks until a “complete and permanent ceasefire” is reached in Gaza.
Last month, the IDF formally “authorized and validated” operational plans for a campaign aimed at pushing Hezbollah north of the Litani River, which was also the stated goal of 2006’s UNSC Resolution 1701. The government is considering launching the operation as early as this month, Germany’s Bild reported on Tuesday, citing diplomatic sources.
On Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told troops in the south that the IDF is “striking Hezbollah very hard every day, and we will also reach a state of full readiness to take any action required in Lebanon or to reach an arrangement from a position of strength.”
Tanks currently leaving the Gaza Strip “can reach as far as the Litani,” he stated, in reference to the river some 10 miles north of the Israeli border.
“We prefer a deal, but if reality forces us, we will know how to fight,” concluded Gallant, according to a readout from his office.