Israel says top commander in Iran’s Quds Force killed in Lebanon strike

IDF and Shin Bet say Hussein Mahmoud Marshad al-Jawhari plotted against Israel in recent years; Lebanese media report two killed in strike on road to Syrian border

Israel said it killed a top commander in the Operations Unit of Iran’s Quds Force in a strike in northeast Lebanon on Thursday morning.

The joint Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet statement said target Hussein Mahmoud Marshad al-Jawhari was involved in recent years “in advancing terrorist plots against Israel in the Syria–Lebanon arena.”

It noted that the Operations Unit, also known as Unit 840, “is the unit that directs and is responsible for Iranian terrorist activity against the State of Israel.”

The Quds Force is the extraterritorial arm of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Lebanon’s state news agency said two people were killed in the Israeli drone strike that targeted a vehicle on a road leading to the Syrian border.

The military published drone footage of the strike.

Israel has kept up regular strikes on Lebanon, usually saying it is targeting Hezbollah infrastructure or operatives violating the November 2024 ceasefire that ended a year of fighting with the Iran-backed terror group.

The IDF has also kept troops in five south Lebanon locations that it deems strategic.

Under international pressure, and in light of fears of expanded Israeli strikes, Lebanon has committed to disarming Hezbollah and plans to do so south of the Litani River, about 30 kilometers (about 18.5 miles) from the border with Israel, by year’s end.

Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun, who has promised to disarm Hezbollah, expressed optimism earlier on Thursday that diplomatic efforts will prevent Israel from escalating the ongoing strikes to a full-blown war.

“Diplomatic contacts to push back the specter of war have not stopped,” Aoun said. “I tell you that the specter of war has been pushed away from Lebanon, and matters will head in a positive direction, God willing.”

Last week, Israeli and Lebanese officials met directly in the southern Lebanon town of Naqoura, the second such meeting this month, as the two enemy states look to maintain the year-old ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war.

A year of intense conflict between the Lebanese Iran-backed terror group and Israel came to a halt just over a year ago with a US-brokered ceasefire. The war erupted when Hezbollah began firing into Israel a day after the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre.

Under the terms of the truce, Hezbollah was to be disarmed and allow the Lebanese Armed Forces to deploy fully across the country as the IDF withdrew.

Beirut drew up plans to confiscate Hezbollah’s weapons and destroy its infrastructure and has been slowly doing so, but it has faced some difficulty, and Jerusalem’s patience is wearing thin.