IDF Confirms Killing of Senior Hezbollah Commander Ali Musa Daqduq in Lebanon

The IDF said on Sunday that it killed senior Hezbollah commander Ali Musa Daqduq in a strike on Friday south of the Litani River in Lebanon. Daqduq had headed Hezbollah’s so-called “Golan File” and was described by the army as a major source of operational knowledge with extensive battlefield experience.

According to the IDF, Daqduq held several sensitive posts over the years, including commander of Hassan Nasrallah’s security detail, a commander in Hezbollah’s Radwan Force, head of the organization’s infantry unit, and an operations officer in the “Nazar” unit. The “Golan File” is Hezbollah’s operational branch focused on building up the group in Syria and constructing military infrastructure near Israel’s border. The IDF said it exposed the unit in 2019.

Daqduq also had a long record of anti-Western militancy. In 2007, he was imprisoned by the United States after leading the kidnapping and killing of five American soldiers. The IDF said he had overseen most of the rules of engagement against military forces in recent years. A military spokesperson called the strike “a significant elimination of another senior Hezbollah commander” and “an important closing of a circle” against one of the main perpetrators of attacks on Israeli civilians, IDF troops, and American soldiers. The army said it would continue targeting Hezbollah commanders.

Separately, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir told Northern Command division and brigade commanders that the army continues operating in Lebanon “to strengthen the defense of northern communities and deepen the harm to Hezbollah through ground maneuver and systemic fire.” He said the Beaufort operation was “operationally essential” and that findings there show Hezbollah’s terror infrastructure across southern Lebanon.

Later, the air force struck in Beirut’s Dahiya district in response to drone fire earlier in the day from Lebanon toward the western Galilee. Lebanon’s health ministry said one person was killed and four were wounded. The target was a headquarters belonging to Hezbollah’s communications-room chief, and the strike involved two fighter jets dropping four precision munitions. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel would not tolerate fire at its territory.