Factbox-Which Hezbollah and Hamas leaders have been assassinated?

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By Jana Choukeir

(Reuters) -Israel has tracked down and assassinated Iran-backed Hezbollah commanders in Lebanon and leaders of the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza amid a sharp escalation in the nearly one- year-old conflicts with its arch-enemies.

Here is a list of some operations against Hezbollah and Hamas leaders and commanders blamed on Israel.

HEZBOLLAH 

IBRAHIM QUBAISI

An airstrike on the southern suburbs of Beirut on Sept. 24 killed Qubaisi, a commander and leading figure in Hezbollah’s rocket division, two security sources said.

IBRAHIM AQIL 

Hezbollah’s operations commander Ibrahim Aqil, who serves on the group’s top military body was killed by an Israeli strike in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sept. 20.

Aqil, who has also used the aliases Tahsin and Abdelqader, is a member of Hezbollah’s top military body, the Jihad Council.

The United States accuses him of a role in the Beirut truck bombings that struck the American embassy in April 1983, which killed 63 people, and a U.S. Marine barracks six months later that killed 241 people. 

AHMED WAHBI

Ahmed Wahbi, a top commander who oversaw the military operations of the Radwan special forces in the Gaza war until early 2024, was killed in an Israel strike that targeted several top commanders in the Beirut suburbs on Sept. 20, including Ibrahim Aqil.

FUAD SHUKR

An Israeli strike on the southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital on July 30 killed Hezbollah’s top commander Fuad Shukr, identified by the Israeli military as the right-hand man of Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

Shukr was one of Hezbollah’s leading military figures since it was established by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards more than four decades ago.

The United States imposed sanctions on Shukr in 2015 and accused him of playing a central role in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, which killed 241 U.S. military personnel.

MOHAMMED NASSER

Mohammed Nasser was killed in an Israeli airstrike on July 3. Israel claimed responsibility, saying he headed a unit responsible for firing from southwestern Lebanon at Israel.

Nasser, a senior commander in Hezbollah, was responsible for a section of Hezbollah’s operations at the frontier, according to senior security sources in Lebanon.

TALEB ABDALLAH

Senior Hezbollah field commander Abdallah was killed on June 12 in a strike claimed by Israel, which said it had hit a command and control centre in southern Lebanon.

Security sources in Lebanon said he was Hezbollah’s commander for the central region of the southern border strip and was of the same rank as Nasser.

His killing prompted the group to fire a heavy barrage of rockets across the border at Israel.

HAMAS

MOHAMMED DEIF

Israel’s military said Deif was killed after fighter jets struck in the area of Khan Younis in Gaza on July 13 after an intelligence assessment. The elusive Deif had survived seven Israel assassination attempts.

Deif is believed to have been one of the masterminds of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, which triggered the Gaza war. Hamas has not confirmed his death.

ISMAIL HANIYEH

Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in the early hours of July 31 in Iran, the Palestinian militant group said.

Haniyeh was killed by a missile that hit him directly in a state guesthouse where he was staying. Israel has not claimed responsibility.

SALEH AL-AROURI  

An Israeli drone strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs of Dahiyeh killed Deputy Hamas chief Saleh al-Arouri on Jan. 2, 2024.

Arouri was also the founder of Hamas military wing, the Qassam Brigades.

(Writing by Jana Choukeir; Editing by Michael Georgy, Andrew Heavens, Daniel Wallis and Timothy Heritage)