Israel says senior Hezbollah commander Nabil Kaouk eliminated, after Hassan Nasrallah’s killing | World News

The Israeli military on Sunday said it had neutralised Hezbollah commander Nabil Kaouk, Reuters reported. 

Hezbollah has not confirmed Kaouk’s death, but his supporters have been posting mourning messages since Saturday, the report added. Kaouk was serving as the deputy head of Hezbollah’s Central Council.

Kaouk also served as Hezbollah’s military commander in south Lebanon from 1995 until 2010.

In 2020, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned him and another member of Hezbollah’s council, Hassan al-Baghdadi.

ALSO READ: How Hezbollah’s ‘limited war’ calculation failed spectacularly as Israel went for the knockout

Kaouk’s elimination comes after Iran-backed Hezbollah’s chief Hassan Nasrallah was eliminated in a massive airstrike conducted by the Israeli military on Friday. 

It is not the first time Israel has killed a Hezbollah leader. Nasrallah took over from Abbas Mousawi, who was killed by an Israeli helicopter attack in 1992.

ALSO READ: How Israel wiped out Hezbollah chiefs one-by-one to create leadership vacuum

Israel-Hezbollah conflict

Israel says it is continuously carrying out targeted attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon. According to an AP report, hundreds of thousands of people in Lebanon have been displaced due to the conflict. 

The country’s environment minister Nasser Yassin said the government estimates that about 250,000 people have left their homes and taken refuge in government-run shelters and informal ones. However, he told the Associated Press the total number is about “four times as many directly affected and/or displaced outside the shelters.”

The UN said that as of Friday, 211,319 people were forced to relocate, and that was before some intensive Israeli airstrikes over Beirut’s southern suburbs in recent days.

The Lebanese government has converted schools and other facilities into temporary shelters. Still, many are sleeping on the streets or in public squares, as the government and non-governmental organizations try to find them places to stay.

(With agency inputs)