Ibrahim Aqil (; 24 December 1962 – 20 September 2024; also known by his aliases Al-Hajj Tahsin or Al-Hajj Abdul Khader) was a Lebanese militant leader who served as commander-in-chief of

Hezbollah Hezbollah ( ; , , ) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. I ...

's special operations unit, the Redwan Force. He was a member of the

Jihad Council The Jihad Council of Hezbollah is a council responsible for directing the groups' military and security activities. It also exercises considerable influence over the organization's various civilian branches and maintains ties with external partner ...

, which oversees the military operations of the organisation. Some considered Aqil as the de facto Chief of Staff of Hezbollah. In the 1980s, Aqil was a senior member in Hezbollah's cell responsible for the 1983 US embassy bombing and the

1983 Beirut barracks bombings On October 23, 1983, two truck bombs were detonated at buildings in Beirut, Lebanon, housing American and French service members of the Multinational Force in Lebanon (MNF), a military peacekeeping operation during the Lebanese Civil War. The ...

. On 21 July 2015, the U.S. Department of the Treasury designated Aqil under Executive Order 13582 for his role in Hezbollah. In September 2019, the U.S. Department of State listed him as a

Specially Designated Global Terrorist A Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) is a person or entity that has been designated as such by the United States Department of State or the U.S. Department of the Treasury. An SDGT designation is made under authority of U.S. Executive ...

. The

Rewards for Justice Program Rewards for Justice Program (RFJ) is United States Department of State's national security interagency program that offers reward for information leading to the location or an arrest of leaders of terrorist groups, financiers of terrorism, inclu ...

offered a reward of up to $7 million for information leading to his capture. He is thought to have served as the deputy to Fuad Shukr, the former commander of Hezbollah's military wing, before Shukr's death. On 20 September 2024, Aqil was killed by an

Israeli Air Force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; , commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial and space warfare branch of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Indep ...

strike in Haret Hreik, Lebanon.

Biography

In the 1980s, Aqil was a senior member in the

Islamic Jihad Organization The Islamic Jihad Organization (IJO; (OJI); ) was a Lebanese Shia Muslims, Lebanese Shia militia known for its activities in the 1980s during the Lebanese Civil War. The organization, advocating for the withdrawal of all Americans from Leba ...

, a group affiliated with Hezbollah. The organization carried out the 1983 US embassy bombing in

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

, killing 63 people, and the attacks on the multinational force bases in Beirut resulted in the deaths of 305 people. During the 1980s, Aqil was responsible for the kidnapping of American and German hostages. On 4 February 2000, during the South Lebanon conflict, Israeli

AH-64 Apache The Hughes/McDonnell Douglas/Boeing AH-64 Apache ( ) is an American twin-turboshaft attack helicopter with a tailwheel-type landing gear and a tandem cockpit for a crew of two. Nose-mounted sensors help acquire targets and provide night vis ...

helicopters fired

AGM-114 Hellfire The AGM-114 Hellfire is an American missile developed for anti-armor use, later developed for precision drone strikes against other target types, especially high-value targets. It was originally developed under the name " Heliborne laser, fi ...

missiles at Aqil's car in the village of Barish, where he was serving as Hezbollah's commander of the South Lebanon sector (or the western sector in South Lebanon). The first missile struck the rear of the car and threw him out. He escaped and hid behind a building. The second missile destroyed the car. After being spotted hiding, another missile was fired at him and hit the wall. Aqil was lightly injured and managed to escape the incident. Five civilians, including an infant, were also injured. During the

2006 Lebanon War The 2006 Lebanon War was a 34-day armed conflict in Lebanon, fought between Hezbollah and Israel. The war started on 12 July 2006, and continued until a United Nations-brokered ceasefire went into effect in the morning on 14 August 2006, thoug ...

, Aqil was responsible for coordinating intelligence between Hezbollah and the

Syrian Army The Syrian Army is the land force branch of the Syrian Armed Forces. Up until the fall of the Assad regime, the Syrian Arab Army existed as a land force branch of the Syrian Arab Armed Forces, which dominanted the military service of the fo ...

. A month later, in September 2006, while serving as the head of Hezbollah's security and intelligence services, the " Intelligence Online" reported that Aqil was one of three Hezbollah operatives, along with

Hassan Nasrallah Hassan Nasrallah (, ; 31 August 196027 September 2024) was a Lebanese cleric and politician who served as the third secretary-general of Hezbollah, a Shia Islamist political party and militia, from 1992 until his assassination in 2024. Bor ...

and

Mustafa Badreddine use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = Damascus International Airport, Syria , death_cause = , body_discovered = , resting_plac ...

, who visited

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

for several months during the 1980s and early 1990s for training. On 21 July 2015, the

U.S. Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States. It is one of 15 current U.S. government departments. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and ...

designated Aqil as closely tied to Hezbollah's leadership and acting on its behalf, along with other senior figures in the organization—Mustafa Badreddine, Fuad Shukr, and Abd al-Nur Shalaan. He was identified as playing a key role in Hezbollah's military campaign in Syria by assisting the organization's fighters and Syrian government forces against

Syrian rebels A number of states and armed groups have involved themselves in the Syrian civil war (2011–present) as belligerents. The main groups were Ba'athist Syria and allies, Syrian opposition, the Syrian opposition and allies, Al-Qaeda and affiliate ...

during the Syrian Civil War. Aqil had also been sought through several ' Red Notices' by

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL (abbreviated as ICPO–INTERPOL), commonly known as Interpol ( , ; stylized in allcaps), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and crime cont ...

, documenting his long history with the organization, including involvement in the kidnapping and holding of two German citizens in the late 1980s and the 1985–86 Paris attacks. In May 2016, following the assassination of

, Aqil was one of two candidates (alongside Fuad Shukr) considered to succeed him as Hezbollah's defence minister (though others identified Fuad Shukr in this role). On 10 September 2019, the U.S. Department of State designated him as a

. On 18 April 2023, the Rewards for Justice program offered a reward of up to $7 million for information about him. Before his death, Aqil served as the head of Hezbollah's operations and was responsible for the Redwan Force, among other things, during the

Hezbollah–Israel conflict Hezbollah, a Shia Islamism, Shia Islamist political party and militant organization that was established in Lebanon in 1985, has been involved in a long-running conflict with Israel as part of the Iran–Israel proxy conflict and the Israeli–Le ...

that began following Hezbollah's attacks on Israel the day after

Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...

2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel On October 7, 2023, Hamas and several other Palestinians, Palestinian militant groups launched coordinated armed incursions from the Gaza Strip into the Gaza envelope of southern Israel, the first invasion of Israeli territory since the 1948 ...

. He also led Hezbollah's tunnel project in Lebanon. He was reportedly injured during the 2024 Lebanon pager explosions and released from the hospital on the day of his assassination. In the event of an Israeli invasion of Lebanon, Aqil's unit had planned to conduct a counter-operation, similar to the

7 October attacks On October 7, 2023, Hamas and several other Palestinian militant groups launched coordinated armed incursions from the Gaza Strip into the Gaza envelope of southern Israel, the first invasion of Israeli territory since the 1948 Arab–Israeli ...

, in northern Israel. The unit would also be involved in defending southern Lebanon from an Israeli invasion.

Assassination

On 20 September 2024, Israeli

F-35 The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, supersonic stealth strike fighters. A multirole combat aircraft designed for both air superiority and strike missions, it also has electronic warf ...

fighter jets fired four missiles at a residential building in the

Dahieh Dahieh (, ) is a predominantly Shia Muslim suburb in the south of Beirut, in the Baabda District of Lebanon. It has a minority of Sunni Muslims, Christians, and a Palestinian refugee camp with 20,000 inhabitants. It is a residential and commerc ...

suburb of Beirut, targeting Aqil, who was at a meeting two storeys underground. The airstrike killed at least 45 people including senior Hezbollah commander Ahmed Mahmoud Wahabi, 14 other high-ranking Hezbollah militants, three children, and seven women, injured another 68, and caused two buildings to collapse. The Israeli military confirmed the attack targeted Aqil, and later confirmed Aqil's death. Saudi reports were the first to report his death. IDF Spokesman Daniel Hagari said that Aqil and other top leadership of the elite Radwan Force were gathered underground when they were targeted and killed in the Israeli airstrike. He also claimed that at least 10 Hezbollah commanders were killed in the airstrike in Beirut. Several hours later, Hezbollah confirmed Aqil's death. In a statement published by the group, he was described as "a great

jihadist Jihadism is a neologism for modern, armed militant Political aspects of Islam, Islamic movements that seek to Islamic state, establish states based on Islamic principles. In a narrower sense, it refers to the belief that armed confrontation ...

leader". The statement also said he had "joined the procession of his brothers, the great martyr leaders, after a blessed life full of jihad". U.S. National Security Adviser

Jake Sullivan Jacob Jeremiah Sullivan (born November 28, 1976) is an American attorney who served as the National Security Advisor (United States), U.S. national security advisor from 2021 to 2025 under President Joe Biden. Sullivan previously served as Dire ...

said the assassination served justice to Aqil, stating: "any time a terrorist who has murdered Americans is brought to justice, we believe that that is a good outcome."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aqil, Ibrahim 1962 births 2024 deaths People from Baalbek District Assassinated Hezbollah members Deaths by Israeli airstrikes Lebanese Islamists Lebanese mass murderers Lebanese Shia Muslims Shia Islamists People killed by Israeli security forces People of the Lebanese Civil War Fugitives wanted on terrorism charges Fugitives wanted by the United States Targeted killing by Israel Rewards for Justice Individuals designated as terrorists by the United States government Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List Military personnel killed in the Israel–Hezbollah conflict (2023–present)