The Israeli military announced Sunday morning that it killed another high-ranking Hezbollah with a precision strike, continuing Israel’s onslaught against the Iranian-backed terrorist organization in Lebanon.
The IDF reportedly killed Nabil Kaouk, a longtime Hezbollah commander, one day after it was confirmed that Israeli airstrikes had eliminated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and other top commanders, severely weakening a terrorist group that serves as one of Iran’s biggest proxy forces in the Middle East. Hezbollah vowed to continue fighting against Israel upon Nasrallah’s death, and Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei mourned his loss.
An Israeli strike on Hezbollah’s underground headquarters in Beirut was responsible for killing Nasrallah and the other high-ranking Hezbollah operatives. The Israel military warned civilians in southern Lebanon to evacuate the area prior to its latest bombing campaign against Hezbollah strongholds and targets.
Over the past eleven months, Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged numerous strikes in southern Lebanon and northern Israel following Hamas’s mass civilian slaughter on October 7, the cause of Israel’s ongoing conflict with the terrorist organization in Gaza.
“The IDF will continue to strike and eliminate the commanders within the Hezbollah terrorist organization and will act against anyone who threatens the citizens of the State of Israel,” the Israeli Defense Forces said.
In recent weeks, Israel forces have eliminated most of Hezbollah’s senior leadership, according to the Israeli military. Most notably, Israel is believed to be responsible for blowing up Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies, wounding dozens of terrorist fighters in the process and demonstrating the sophistication of Israeli intelligence capabilities. Since then, Israeli and Hezbollah forces have traded rocket strikes deeper into each other’s territory, prompting fears of escalation and the possibility of a full-scale regional war.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a fiery United Nations speech Friday and promised that the Jewish state would continue its fight to destroy Hezbollah, a longtime adversary that last fought a full-scale war against Israel in 2006. Before Israel killed Nasrallah, the Biden administration and its French counterparts proposed a 21-day temporary cease-fire deal, a move Israel rejected and condemned despite reports saying otherwise.