The Israel Defense Forces killed another senior Hezbollah commander on Saturday, a day after successfully targeting the terrorist army’s leader Hassan Nasrallah.
According to the military’s statement on Sunday, Air Force fighter jets killed Nabil Qaouk, the commander of Hezbollah’s Preventive Security Unit and a member of the Iranian-backed group’s Central Council, in Beirut.
Qaouk was close to Hezbollah’s leadership and directly involved in promoting terrorist activities against Israeli citizens in recent days, the IDF said.
“Qaouk joined the organization in the 1980s and was considered a central source of knowledge in his field. In the past, he served as the Deputy Head of the Southern Region on behalf of the Executive Council, Head of the Southern Region, and Deputy Chairman of the Executive Council,” the IDF statement read.
“Qaouk frequently appeared in the media, representing Hezbollah before the Shi’ite population and expressing himself on political, military and strategic matters,” it continued.
Qaouk , 60, was listed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
The IDF said that it will continue to target Hezbollah commanders and anyone who acts against the State of Israel. In recent weeks and months, Israel has eliminated nearly Hezbollah’s entire “military” chain of command.
On Friday, Israeli fighter jets bombed Hezbollah’s headquarters in Dahiyeh, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, killing Nasrallah and other senior terrorists, including Ali Karaki, the commander of Hezbollah’s Southern Front, and Iranian Revolutionary Guards deputy commander Brig. Gen. Abbas Nilforoushan.
Israel is also actively working to prevent Iran from resupplying Hezbollah with munitions, including by on Sunday carrying out an airstrike near the western Syrian city of al-Qusayr, according to Arab reports. Al-Qusayr is located near the Lebanon border.
Meanwhile, the United States along with European and regional countries continue to push for a diplomatic resolution to the current round of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict.
Lebanese Information Minister Ziad Makary said during a Cabinet session on Sunday that diplomatic efforts for a ceasefire were still “underway,” Reuters reported.
“It is certain that the Lebanese government wants a ceasefire, and everyone knows that [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu went to New York based on the premise of a ceasefire, but the decision was made to assassinate Nasrallah,” Makary said.
“Diplomatic efforts to achieve a ceasefire are ongoing. The prime minister [Najib Mikati] is not falling short, but the matter is not that easy,” Makary added.
