By Jana Choukeir
(Reuters) -Israel has killed numerous leaders of Hamas and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah during more than a year of conflict ignited by the Palestinian militant group’s Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
Members of Israel’s security cabinet have been informed that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, a mastermind of the devastating Oct. 7 raids, is very likely dead, two officials with knowledge of the matter said.
Here is a list of the Hezbollah and Hamas leaders targeted over the past year:
HAMAS:
YAHYA SINWAR
The Israeli military said Sinwar may have been hit in an operation in the Gaza Strip that it said had targeted three militants. Two of Israel’s broadcasters, KAN and N12 News cited Israeli officials as saying he was dead.
Hamas has yet to say anything about his fate.
Sinwar became Hamas chief after the assassination of the group’s then-leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in Iran in July. Sinwar has been Israel’s most wanted enemy, and was widely assumed to be running the war from tunnels beneath Gaza.
ISMAIL HANIYEH
Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated on July 31 during a visit to Tehran. He had been Hamas leader since 2017.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said he was killed by a short-range projectile. The New York Times, citing unnamed sources, reported that the explosion which killed him was a bomb that was covertly smuggled into the guesthouse where he was staying.
Israel never claimed responsibility.
Haniyeh had moved between Turkey and Qatar’s capital Doha, escaping the travel curbs of the blockaded Gaza Strip and enabling him to act as a negotiator in ceasefire talks or to talk to Hamas’ ally Iran.
MOHAMMED DEIF
Israel’s military said Deif, commander of Hamas’ military wing, was killed after fighter jets struck in the area of Khan Younis in Gaza on July 13 after an intelligence assessment. The elusive Deif had survived seven Israel assassination attempts.
Hamas has not confirmed his death.
Deif is believed to have been another mastermind of Oct. 7. Hamas has not confirmed his death.
MARWAN ISSA
Deputy Hamas military commander Marwan Issa was killed in an Israeli strike in March, the Israeli military said. He had been at the top of Israel’s most-wanted listed alongside Deif and Sinwar.
Hamas has not confirmed his death.
SALEH AL-AROURI
An Israeli drone strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs of Dahiyeh killed deputy Hamas chief Saleh al-Arouri on Jan. 2. Arouri was also the founder of Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades.
HEZBOLLAH
HASSAN NASRALLAH
Israeli killed Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike on the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut on Sept. 27. His death marked a devastating blow to Hezbollah as the group was reeling from an escalating campaign of Israeli attacks. He had led Hezbollah since 1992.
ALI KARAKI
One of Hezbollah’s top commanders, Ali Karaki was killed in the airstrike that assassinated Nasrallah. The Israeli military said more than 20 militants of varying ranks were killed in the strike on a underground bunker.
HASHEM SAFIEDDINE
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Oct. 8 that Hashem Safieddine, the man widely seen as Nasrallah’s successor, had probably been “eliminated”. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went further, saying Israeli airstrikes had killed two successors to Hezbollah’s slain leader – a reference to Safieddine and a second figure whom he did not identify.
Hezbollah has not commented on his fate.
NABIL KAOUK
A senior Hezbollah security official, Kaouk was killed by an Israeli airstrike on Sept. 28.
IBRAHIM QUBAISI
An airstrike on the southern suburbs of Beirut on Sept. 24 killed Qubaisi, a commander and leading figure in Hezbollah’s rocket division, two security sources said.
IBRAHIM AQIL
Hezbollah’s operations commander Ibrahim Aqil, who served on the group’s top military body, was killed by an Israeli strike in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sept. 20.
The United States accused him of a role in the Beirut truck bombings that struck the American embassy in April 1983, which killed 63 people, and a U.S. Marine barracks six months later that killed 241 people.
AHMED WAHBI
Ahmed Wahbi, a top commander who oversaw the military operations of the Radwan special forces until early 2024, was killed in an Israel strike that targeted several top commanders in the Beirut suburbs on Sept. 20, including Ibrahim Aqil.
FUAD SHUKR
An Israeli strike on the southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital on July 30 killed Hezbollah’s top commander Fuad Shukr.
Shukr had been one of Hezbollah’s leading military figures since it was established by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in 1982.
The United States imposed sanctions on Shukr in 2015 and accused him of playing a central role in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, which killed 241 U.S. military personnel.
MOHAMMED NASSER
Mohammed Nasser was killed in an Israeli airstrike on July 3. Israel claimed responsibility, saying he headed a unit responsible for firing from southwestern Lebanon at Israel.
Nasser, a senior commander in Hezbollah, was responsible for a section of Hezbollah’s operations at the frontier, according to senior security sources in Lebanon.
TALEB ABDALLAH
Senior Hezbollah field commander Abdallah was killed on June 12 in a strike claimed by Israel, which said it had hit a command and control centre in southern Lebanon.
Security sources in Lebanon said he was Hezbollah’s commander for the central region of the southern border strip and was of the same rank as Nasser.
(Writing by Jana Choukeir/Tom Perry; Editing by Michael Georgy, Andrew Heavens, Daniel Wallis, Timothy Heritage and Frances Kerry)
