IDF Says It Killed Senior Hezbollah Commander Ali Mousa Daqduq in Southern Lebanon

The IDF said on Friday that it killed Ali Mousa Daqduq, a senior Hezbollah commander and former head of the group’s so-called Golan file, south of the Litani River in Lebanon. The military described him as a key source of operational knowledge with extensive combat experience, saying he had spent years planning terror attacks and fighting against the IDF and the State of Israel.

According to the IDF, Daqduq held a long list of posts in Hezbollah. He reportedly commanded Nasrallah’s security team, led forces in Radwan, served in the operations department of the group’s Nasser unit, headed the infantry unit, and ran the Golan file, an operational wing responsible for Hezbollah’s entrenchment in Syria and the building of military infrastructure near the Israeli border. The IDF said it exposed the unit in 2019.

The army added that Daqduq had directed much of the combat doctrine used against Israeli forces in recent years. It also said that in 2007 he was imprisoned by the Americans after leading the abduction and killing of five U.S. soldiers. The IDF called the strike a significant elimination of another senior Hezbollah commander and said it was an important reckoning with one of the main figures behind attacks on Israelis, IDF troops, and U.S. soldiers. It said it would continue to target Hezbollah commanders.

Hezbollah had not officially confirmed his death as of the report. Still, several Arab outlets reported it on Friday, including Saberin, which is associated with pro-Iranian militias in Iraq, and Al-Nahar in Lebanon, which said Hezbollah-linked accounts and sites had circulated the news. Another outlet aligned with the Shiite axis said the village of Aita al-Shaab was mourning Daqduq, calling him a great Hezbollah leader, a prisoner and wounded man, and one of the symbols of jihadist activity in Iraq.