Hezbollah commander Ali Mussa Daqduq dies of wounds after reported Israeli strike

Hezbollah-linked social media accounts are mourning the death of Ali Mussa Daqduq, one of the group’s most prominent commanders in recent years, according to a report by Roi Kais on Kan 11. Daqduq had previously headed Hezbollah’s “Golan file” in southern Syria, the front Hassan Nasrallah sought to build against Israel there, and he was also involved in training pro-Iranian militias in Iraq.

Israel tried to assassinate Daqduq in Damascus, the Syrian capital, in November 2024. Since then, his fate had been unclear. The tributes published after his death did not spell out the circumstances, but described him as a senior commander. The accounts also noted his long history with militant activity and his close identification by the United States.

Daqduq was captured by U.S. forces in 2007 over his role in the Karbala raid, in which gunmen posing as an American security team killed five U.S. soldiers. He was later handed over to Iraqi authorities in December 2011, after the U.S. military mission ended, and was the last prisoner transferred before the American withdrawal. Despite U.S. demands that Iraq prosecute him, he was soon released, prompting anger in Washington.

The article says Daqduq acted on behalf of Iran’s Quds Force and helped plan the Karbala operation. In a 2007 interrogation, he said the raid had direct support and training from the Quds Force. Israel killed his son, Hassan Mussa Daqduq, in Quneitra in December 2023, after the son had been a member of Hezbollah’s Golan unit. NBC reported in 2024 that an Israeli airstrike in Syria had killed Daqduq, but that report was wrong, as he had only been wounded and died of those wounds only in recent days.