Ahmad Tarmous, posing next to a photo of his son, Hassan, during the latter's funeral in his hometown of Tallousa, after he was killed by an Israeli strike on Feb. 13, 2024, in southern Lebanon. (Credit: Photo shared on social networks)
Killed Monday by an Israeli drone strike in southern Lebanon, Ahmad Tarmous, a Hezbollah member, received a threatening call from the Israeli army just minutes before the threat was carried out.
According to several relatives of the victim, interviewed by L'Orient-Le Jour, the 62-year-old was contacted by the Israeli army while he was visiting his uncle on Monday afternoon in the village of Tallousa (Marjayoun district).
At the end of the conversation, Tarmous informed those present about what had just happened, before abruptly leaving the house and heading toward his car as an Israeli drone hovered over the area.
"They asked him: Do you prefer to die alone or with those who are with you in the house?" one of his cousins told our publication.
"When leaving, he ordered a 13-year-old boy from the village to move away from his car, warning him that a drone was tracking him," she added.
Once in his vehicle, the man tried to drive quickly away from the house, before two missiles hit him just after he started the engine, killing him instantly.
This account was confirmed by one of his sons to L'Orient-Le Jour, who stated that Tarmous was not at the family home at the time of the strike but at his uncle's house.
He thus refuted claims that his wife and children tried to dissuade him from leaving them, as several media outlets had reported.
One of his sons killed in February 2024
As it usually does, the Israeli army subsequently posted aerial images of the attack on social media, accusing the victim of being "a liaison officer" for the party in Tallousa.
"Ahmad Tarmous was actively trying to rebuild military infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah ... and was responsible for coordinating actions between the organization and the villagers on military and economic matters," the military said in its statement.
For its part, the party did not respond to a request for comment but did publish a death notice for Tarmous, claiming him as a member of the group.
The mokhtar of Tallousa, Ali Tarmous, a distant cousin of the victim, also confirmed that one of Ahmad Tarmous's sons, Hassan, was killed on Feb. 13, 2024, in another Israeli raid during the early months of the war between Hezbollah and Israel, which began on Oct. 8, 2023.
The local official said this was the first Israeli strike to have targeted his village since the start of the cease-fire, which took effect Nov. 27, 2024.
While most of the people targeted by the ongoing Israeli strikes are members of Hezbollah, most of the fighters eliminated in recent months appear to be from the lower ranks of the party's armed forces.
According to a tally by L'Orient-Le Jour, more than 350 people, including at least 136 civilians and 214 Hezbollah members, have been killed in Lebanon by Israeli army fire or strikes between the start of the truce and the end of January 2026, while the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), recorded more than 10,000 Israeli violations of U.N. Resolution 1701 over that period.
