Hezbollah commander Mohammad Naame Nasser who was killed on July 3 in al-Hosh (Sour). (Credit: Hezbollah Media Office)
BEIRUT — Hezbollah's "Aziz" Unit commander Mohammed Naame Nasser, known as 'Hajj Abu Naame,' was killed on Wednesday in an Israeli drone strike that targeted his car in al-Hosh, in Sour district, southern Lebanon. The unit oversees the entire western sector in southern Lebanon. Mohammed Khashab, another Hezbollah member, was also killed in the same strike, according to a security source cited by L'Orient Today.
Soon after Hezbollah confirmed Nasser's death, the Israeli military, in a statement, took credit for killing the regional commander.
Since Oct.8, Hezbollah has lost 364 members in Lebanon and Syria.
According to Kassem Kassir, an analyst close to Hezbollah, citing reports in Israeli media, "Nasser was the senior field commander in the western sector of southern Lebanon, responsible for operations in the western Galilee during the war. His assassination marks one of the largest losses [alongside Taleb Abdullah who was assassinated in June] for Hezbollah."
Abdallah was deemed, at the time of his assassination as “the most important Hezbollah official to have been killed” since the start of the war in October, according to a source quoted by AFP.
According to the statement by the Israeli military, it claimed that "Nasser had led rocket and anti-tank missile attacks from southwestern Lebanon towards Israeli civilians, communities, and security forces since 2016. He held key roles within Hezbollah and directed numerous attacks on Israel before and during the conflict."
"If those reports are accurate, this is a very major assassination operation, expected to provoke a response from Hezbollah," Kassir told L'Orient Today.
Hezbollah's spokesperson did not comment to L'Orient Today, but posted a quote from Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on her Whatsapp story, stating that "vengeance is on the way."
In response to the attack, Hezbollah fired over 100 Katyusha rockets at "the headquarters of the 210th Golan Division, in the Nafah barracks," located about 20 km from the border; as well as "the headquarters of the air and missile defense, in the Kila'a barracks," also located a good distance away.
A second attack targeted the "headquarters of the 769th Brigade in the Kiryat Shmona barracks " with "Falaq missiles."
Hezbollah also released a video of Nasser from May 15, 1999, during a raid on an Israeli site in Beit Yahoun (Bint Jbeil), highlighting his role during Lebanon's 22-year occupation by Israel until Israel was forced to withdraw in 2000.
In the evening, Hezbollah first released a video of Nasser on May 15, 1999, during a raid on an Israeli site at Beit Yahoun, in the Bint Jbeil caza, highlighting his role during the 22-year occupation of southern Lebanon by Israel, which was forced to withdraw in 2000.
The party then published elements of its commander's biography. Born on June 5, 1965, at the age of 59, Nasser was born in Haddatha (Bint Jbeil). He joined the ranks of Hezbollah in 1986, where he took part in numerous military operations against enemy Israeli army positions during the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon. "He was wounded more than once" during these operations, and gradually rose in rank, said the party.
Among his feats, Hezbollah cites his participation in "the heroic response to the Israeli aggression against Lebanon in July 2006," and "the fight against terrorist organizations in Iraq and Syria from 2011 to 2016", where he was wounded again in 2015. He was appointed head of the Aziz unit in 2016 "after the martyrdom of commander Hassan Mohammed al-Hajj".
Hezbollah said that Nasser "planned, directed and supervised numerous military operations against the Israeli enemy's sites, installations, bases and deployment points in northern occupied Palestine, during the Al-Aqsa Flood operations," the name given to the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel that marked the start of the Gaza war.
The party added that Nasser was recognized on several occasions by Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah.
In a statement published on Telegram, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad paid tribute to Nasser and said that "the al-Quds Brigades are proud of the prominent and influential role played by the martyr ... in supporting the Palestinian resistance," the armed faction said.
Since Oct.8 Hezbollah and Israel have been involved in daily cross border fire. Hezbollah says that its involvement in the fight is in support of its Palestinian ally in Gaza, Hamas.