Israel Confirms Killing Hezbollah’s Chief of Preventive Security

Jerusalem, 29 September, 2024 (TPS) -- Israel eliminated the commander of Hezbollah’s Preventive Security Unit in a Beirut airstrike, the Israel Defense Forces confirmed on Sunday. The announcement comes one day after Israel confirmed the assassination of Hezbollah’s top leader, Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah.

The IDF said Nabil Qaouk, “was directly engaged in promoting terrorist plots against the State of Israel and its citizens, even in recent days,” killing him in an airstrike on Saturday in Beirut’s Dahieh district, a Hezbollah stronghold.

Qaouk, 60, was also a member of Hezbollah’s central council. He joined the Iran-backed terror group in the 1980s and often represented Hezbollah in the media. In 2020, the US Treasury Department labeled Qaouk as a Specially Designated Terrorist.

On Saturday, both Israel and Hezbollah confirmed Nasrallah’s death in an airstrike.

Nasrallah’s death, along with the elimination of numerous other senior commanders in air strikes and the sabotage of the terror group’s communications network has left Hezbollah in disarray.

After the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, Hezbollah began firing rockets and launching drones at northern Israel communities, killing 49 people. More than 60,000 residents of northern Israel were forced to evacuate their homes. Nasrallah and other Hezbollah leaders have repeatedly said they would continue the attacks to prevent Israelis from returning to their homes.

Israeli officials call for Hezbollah to be disarmed and removed from southern Lebanon in compliance with UN Security Council resolution 1701. Expectations of a ground invasion rose on Wednesday following comments by Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi and an announcement that the military was remobilizing two reservist brigades for the northern front.