An Israeli strike in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, July 3, 2024, killed a senior Hezbollah Commander, Muhammad Nimah Nasser.
The Israeli military acknowledged the attack, saying that Nasser alongside Taleb Sami Abdullah are “two of the most significant Hezbollah” militants in southern Lebanon.
It said that Nasser led attacks from southwestern Lebanon.
Hezbollah confirmed the death of the Commander.
On its official Telegram channel, the group said that Commander Muhammad Nimah Nasser, also known as “Hajj Abu Nimah”, had been killed.
A Hezbollah official speaking anonymously in line with regulations, said he was head of the group’s Aziz Unit, one of three regional divisions in southern Lebanon.
Nasser is the most senior official from the Iran-backed group killed since Taleb Sami Abdullah, who was killed in an airstrike June 11. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a speech honoring Abdullah said he played a pivotal role on the front line since clashes began on Oct. 8 leading the Nasr Unit.
It said he was born in 1965 and was from the town of Hadada in southern Lebanon.
As usual, Hezbollah made no mention of where and when Nasser was killed.
Hezbollah said in response to the killing of Nasser, it launched Falaq rockets with heavy warheads targeting the headquarters of the Israeli military’s 769th Brigade in Kiryat Shmona, as well as 100 salvos of Katyusha rockets targeting the headquarters of Israel’s 210th division and the Kilaa air base in the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights.
The group said this was the sixth attack launched against Israeli positions following the killing of Muhammad Nimah Nasser, also known as “Hajj Abu Nimah”, and his bodyguard.
The group also shared footage of Nasser taking part in what they said was an operation at an Israeli military outpost in southern Lebanon in 1999 back when it was under occupation.
A Significant Blow To Hezbollah
The killing of prominent Commander Muhammad Nimah Nasser is a significant blow to Hezbollah and it shows that Israel is in a position to penetrate into Lebanese airspace and carry out these drone attacks.
The Commander was the head of the Aziz Unit, which controls one of three districts in southern Lebanon. The killing comes less than a month since Israel assassinated another senior Hezbollah commander, Abu Taleb, in an air raid.
The strike near the southern coastal city of Tyre that killed Nasser took place as global diplomatic efforts have intensified in recent weeks to prevent escalating clashes between Hezbollah and the Israeli military from spiraling into an all-out war that could possibly lead to a direct confrontation between Israel and Iran.
Senior adviser to U.S. President Joe Biden, Amos Hochstein, who has been shuttling between Lebanon and Israel, is set to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron’s Lebanon envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian in Paris on Wednesday as part of his ongoing diplomatic efforts to end the conflict.
Hezbollah maintains that it will stop its attacks once there is a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.
Until then, it says thatit will continue with its attacks to pile pressure on Israel and the international community. Israeli officials have threatened to launch a larger military operation should Hezbollah not stop its attacks.
Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon since October have killed over 450 people, most of them Hezbollah fighters, but the dead also include more than 80 civilians and non-combatants.
On the Israeli side, 16 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed since the war in Gaza began. Tens of thousands of people on both sides of the tense frontier have been displaced in the monthslong war.
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