"Martyr's death"

Israel kills Hezbollah commander Sami Abdallah

The victim is Sami Abdallah, known as Abu Taleb.

(Bild: AFP/APA/Hezbollah‘s Media Office)

According to Lebanese reports, the Israeli army has killed the highest-ranking commander of the Shiite Hezbollah militia since the start of the Gaza war. He was killed on Tuesday evening in an attack in the town of Jwaya.

The victim was Sami Abdallah, known as Abu Taleb. Abdallah, who was born in southern Lebanon in 1969, died "as a martyr on the way to Jerusalem", Hezbollah wrote in its usual formulation for members killed in action. The pro-Iranian Shiite militia later declared that a second fighter named Mohammad Hussein Sabra had been killed in the same Israeli attack.

Until now, Wissam Hassan Tawil, who was killed in an Israeli attack in January, was considered the highest-ranking Hezbollah member killed since the beginning of the Gaza war. Among other things, Tawil had been involved in the capture of Israeli soldiers who had triggered the last war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006.

Israel gave only vague details
For its part, the Israeli army initially gave no concrete details of the attack on Tuesday evening. However, it stated that it had hit several Hezbollah targets in the south of Lebanon. Hezbollah had previously carried out 50 rocket attacks on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Since the beginning of the war between Israel and the radical Islamic Hamas in the Gaza Strip following the Hamas massacre in Israel on October 7, there have been almost daily exchanges of fire between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters. The intensity of the fighting has increased in recent days.

Casualties on both sides
According to a count by the AFP news agency, at least 467 people have been killed in Lebanon since October, including at least 90 civilians and 304 Hezbollah fighters. According to Israeli figures, at least 15 soldiers and eleven civilians have been killed on the Israeli side of the border. Tens of thousands of people were forced to leave their homes on the Israeli side.

Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that his country was ready for a "very intensive operation" on the northern border with Lebanon. "One way or another, we will restore security there", Netanyahu said.