Israel army says top Hezbollah official killed in Saturday strike in Lebanon

The Israeli military said on Sunday it had killed a senior Hezbollah official in an air strike on a Beirut suburb the day before, as it continued to target the Lebanese armed group.

The military said Nabil Qaouq, a member of Hezbollah’s central council, was “struck and eliminated” on Saturday, just a day after the group’s chief Hassan Nasrallah was killed in a similar strike.

A source close to Hezbollah confirmed to AFP that Qaouq was killed in a strike on Saturday and identified him as a member of Hezbollah’s central council in charge of security in the group.

“Qaouq was considered to be close to Hezbollah’s senior commanders, and directly engaged in terrorist attacks against the state of Israel and its citizens, even in recent days,” the military said in a statement.

He joined Hezbollah in the 1980s and was “regarded as an important source of expertise in his field”, the military added.

In recent weeks, Israel has launched widespread strikes targeting senior Hezbollah commanders and the group’s weapons sites in southern and eastern Lebanon and in its south Beirut bastion.

On Friday, it killed the group’s chief Nasrallah in a strike that sent shock waves across the Middle East.