Hezbollah has confirmed that another senior figure in the militant group, Ali Karki, was killed in the massive Israeli airstrike in southern Beirut on Friday. Karki, who had been the commander of Hezbollah’s southern front forces for the last year, was killed alongside the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah. He had previously fought in confrontations with Israel in 2000 and 2006.
On Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces reported that more than 20 Hezbollah members of varying ranks were killed in the strike. Among them were Ibrahim Hussein Jazini, the head of Nasrallah’s security unit, and Samir Tawfiq Dib, a long-time adviser to Nasrallah. Ali Naaf Ayoub, responsible for coordinating Hezbollah’s firepower, was also among those killed, according to the IDF. Jazini and Dib were noted as being among Nasrallah’s closest associates.
However, there has been no official response from Hezbollah regarding the deaths of those identified by the Israeli military on Sunday. The casualties from the strike have further escalated tensions between Hezbollah and Israel, adding to the long-standing conflict between the two parties.
