Senior Hezbollah commander Ali Muhammad al-Debs was killed alongside two other Hezbollah members and seven civilians in a Israeli air strike on Wednesday. (Photo: Hezbollah press statement/Telegram)
BEIRUT — Senior Hezbollah commander Ali Muhammad al-Debs was killed alongside two other Hezbollah members and seven civilians in a Israeli air strike in Nabatieh, southern Lebanon, on Wednesday, as confirmed by both Hezbollah and the Israeli army.
The strikes occurred on the deadliest day since the cross-border hostilities erupted, especially for civilians.
Al-Debs was a senior commander in the Iran-backed group's elite Radwan Forces, Hezbollah's special forces unit, which is estimated to be comprise of 2,500 fighters. His deputy commander Hassan Ibrahim Issa and a third Hezbollah operative Hussein Ahmad Akeel were also killed, according to Hezbollah.
A video shared by the Israeli army on its X account shows the moment the building al-Dabs was in was destroyed by a fighter jet air raid on Nabatieh, with large plumes of smoke emanating from the collapsed dwellings. In a statement, Hezbollah said that al-Debs was born in 1976 in the town of Balat and that he was a resident of the town of Zabdin in southern Lebanon. The party added that he died "on the path to Jerusalem," a term the group uses to describes member skilled in Israeli strikes.
Israel claimed that its attack on Nabatieh was in response to a rocket attack — launched from Lebanon but still unclaimed, though attributed to Hezbollah — on a military base in the northern Israeli town of Safed. The strike hit the Israeli army's Battalion 91, retired general Elias Hanna told L’Orient Today.
Al-Debs: 'mastermind' of operations against Israel
Israeli army spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, claimed that al-Debs was the mastermind behind the "terrorist attack at the Megiddo Junction" in the north of the country, in March 2023. "He also led and planned and operated numerous attacks against the State of Israel, since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war," the Israeli army added in a statement posted on X on Thursday.
On the morning of March 13 a explosive device detonated at the Megiddo junction, almost 60 kilometers south of the Lebanese border. The powerful blast seriously injured a twenty-one-year-old man, according to The Times of Israel. It is believed that a militant, likely from Hezbollah, climbed over the border fence from Lebanon into northern Israel, using a ladder. He was later shot dead by the elite police Yamam counterterrorism unit and Shin Bet officers.
Previous Israeli attempts to target al-Debs
On the afternoon of Thursday, Feb. 8, initial reports suggested that al-Debs, known by his nickname Hajj Abdullah, had died in a Israeli drone strike on Nabatieh. But later reports surfaced confirming that he had escaped, jumping from the car he was driving in moments before it was struck. The Israeli army says the strike was carried out in response to Hezbollah artillery fire striking one of its bases nearby and seriously injuring one of the soldiers there.
According to residents in the city, prior to the strike, Israeli drones followed the car in the al-Bayad neighborhood and failed to hit it in a first attempt. The drones continued to pursue the car and hit it from the side while it was stopped in traffic near the Hassan Kamal al-Sabah statue. Those inside managed jump out of it before it was targeted.
Since Oct. 8, Hezbollah and the Israeli army have exchanged near-daily fire, following the start of the Hamas-Israel war on Oct.7. According to our count, 203 Hezbollah fighters have been killed in Lebanon and Syria during this time.