Yasser Qarnabach, Hezbollah member killed on Tuesday 9 July 2024. (Photo circulated by Hezbollah's press office)
BEIRUT — Speculations and rumors rose after a former guard of Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah, Yasser Qarnabach,was killed on Tuesday in an Israeli drone strike in the Jdeidet Yabous region of Syria, on the border with Lebanon.
Many were quick to claim that he was a senior advisor to the Iranian revolutionary guard, serving as a top commander, a claim that a Hezbollah spokesperson denied to L'Orient Today.
"Those are all rumors," they said noting that he was a "former guard for" Nasrallah, without providing further information on his specific rank in the party.
The Times of Israel, Israel Hayom, as well as regional and international media outlets, circulated photos of Qarnabach guarding Nasrallah which the Hezbollah spokesperson confirmed to L'Orient Today are "real photos but" taken almost two decades ago.
According to Al Arabiya, Qarnabach was responsible “for transporting personnel and weapons to Syria," however Hezbollah did not disclose the role Qarnabach held in the party at the time of his assassination.
According to the Israeli channel 14, Qarnabach was a "leader in Hezbollah’s air defense force." This claim was heavily circulated on social media platforms.
مقتل المرافق السابق لحسن نصر الله بغارة إسرائيلية على طريق يعفور ياسر نمر قرنبش (أمين -الحاج أبو الفضل)
— Abdullah Almousa (@Abu_Orwa91) July 9, 2024
نشر حزب الله نعوة رسمية بعد ساعة من الاستهداف.
بحسب القناة 14 الإسرائيلية: قرنبش قيادي في قوة الدفاع الجوي لحزب الله
بحسب وسائل إعلان إيرانية: قرنبش مستشار في الحرس الثوري… pic.twitter.com/3dv8clk6sk
Hezbollah did not provide further information about Qarnabach noting that he was from the southern town of Zawtar Al-Sharqiya, born in 1970, and killed "on the path to Jerusalem."
Hezbollah retaliated on Tuesday evening, by targeting the headquarters of the 210th Division in the Golan at the Nafah military base with dozens of Katyusha rockets.
Commenting on the strike, Charles Lister, director of the Syria program at the Middle East Institute, called it a "major blow" for Hezbollah. According to him, Qarnabach was "Hezbollah's head of weapons procurement from Syria and Iraq."
"He was likely on his way back to Lebanon after Israel seized a newly arrived shipment of weapons from the port of Latakia overnight," he added.
Since the beginning of Israel's war against Lebanon on Oct.8, 369 Hezbollah members were killed in both Lebanon and Syria. Israel has managed to eliminate several military leaders of the party, including Wissam Tawil, Mohammad Nasser and Taleb Abdallah.