Hezbollah, Hamas and Iranian figures whose killings were blamed on Israel

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has been killed in a massive bombardment carried out by Israel on the group’s central headquarters in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

Hezbollah later confirmed in a statement the death of Nasrallah, who has led the group for 32 years.

With his killing, Nasrallah’s name became the latest to be added to a growing list of Middle Eastern political leaders and commanders who have been tracked down and killed by Israel in recent months, amid a sharp escalation of violence in the region since October 7.

Here is a list of some operations against Hezbollah and Hamas leaders and commanders, either claimed by or blamed on Israel.

Hezbollah

• Hassan Nasrallah – An Israeli military spokesman announced that the Hezbollah chief had been “eliminated” in strikes on the Lebanese capital on Friday. Hezbollah later confirmed his killing. In 2006, Nasrallah was also rumoured to have been killed during Israel’s last war with Hezbollah, but he later re-emerged unscathed.

• Ibrahim Qubaisi – An air strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut on September 24 killed Qubaisi, a commander and leading figure in Hezbollah’s rocket division, two security sources said.
• Ibrahim Aqil – Hezbollah’s operations commander, who served on the group’s top military body, was killed by an Israeli strike in Beirut’s southern suburbs on September 20. Aqil, who has also used the aliases Tahsin and Abdelqader, was a member of Hezbollah’s top military body, the Jihad Council. The United States accused him of having a role in two deadly bombings in Lebanon that killed hundreds of people.
• Ahmed Wahbi – He was identified as a top commander who oversaw the military operations of the Radwan special forces in the Gaza war until early 2024. He was killed in an Israel strike that targeted several top commanders, including Ibrahim Aqil, in the Beirut suburbs on September 20.
  • Fuad Shukr – An Israeli strike on the southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital on July 30 killed Hezbollah’s top commander Fuad Shukr, identified by the Israeli military as Nasrallah’s right-hand man. Shukr was one of Hezbollah’s leading military figures since it was established by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps more than 40 years ago. The US 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, which killed 241 military personnel.
  • Muhammed Nasser – The senior Hezbollah leader was killed in an Israeli air strike on July 3 in Tyre, Lebanon. Israel claimed responsibility, saying he headed a unit responsible for firing from southwestern Lebanon at Israel. Nasser, also known as Hajj Abu Nimah, was also reportedly responsible for a section of Hezbollah’s operations at the frontier with Israel.
  • Taleb Abdallah – The senior Hezbollah field commander was killed on June 12 in a strike claimed by Israel, which said it had hit a command and control centre in southern Lebanon. Security sources in Lebanon said he was Hezbollah’s commander for the central region of the southern border strip and was of the same rank as Nasser. His killing prompted the group to fire a heavy barrage of rockets across the border at Israel.

  Hamas

  • Mohammed Deif – Israel’s military said Deif was killed after fighter jets struck in the area of Khan Younis in Gaza on July 13 after an intelligence assessment. The elusive Deif had survived seven Israel assassination attempts. Deif, one of the founders of Hamas’s military wing, the Qassam Brigades, is believed to have been one of the masterminds of the October 7 attack on southern Israel on the eve of the Gaza war.
  • Ismail Haniyeh – Haniyeh was assassinated in the early hours of July 31 in Iran, according to Hamas. He was reportedly killed by a missile that hit him directly in a state guesthouse where he was staying in Tehran. Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack.
  • Saleh al-Arouri – An Israeli drone strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs of Dahiyeh killed Deputy Hamas chief Saleh al-Arouri on January 2, 2024. Arouri was also the founder of Hamas military wing, the Qassam Brigades.

  Iranian officials

  • Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander in the elite Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and his deputy Mohammad Hadi Hajriahimi were killed in an Israeli air strike in April that destroyed the Iranian consulate in Damascus.