זירת החיסול בביירות
זירת החיסול בביירותצילום: Reuters TV

The IDF on Saturday confirmed the elimination of Ali Karki, commander of the Hezbollah terror group's Southern Front.

Ali Karki has been the Commander of Hezbollah’s Southern Front since 2007, directing the terrorist organization’s activities in southern Lebanon. He oversaw the build-up of weapons stockpiles and stationed thousands of operatives along the border with Israel. Since the war began, Karki has led rocket launches, anti-tank missile attacks, and UAV strikes that have killed dozens of Israeli civilians and soldiers, inflicting heavy damage to communities in northern Israel.

As leader of the Southern Front, Karki led a campaign to embed Hezbollah within civilian areas in southern Lebanon, using homes and the civilian population as shields in their terror activities against Israeli civilians.

Karki, a founding member of Hezbollah's military operations in the 1980s, previously served as Chief of Staff of its Military Wing and carried out numerous terror attacks against Israeli civilians. He played a key role in a 1997 terrorist attack in Israel, led operations in southern Lebanon during Operation Defensive Shield (2002), and led Hezbollah forces in combat during the 2006 Lebanon War.

In addition to Karki, the IDF eliminated a senior terrorist from Hezbollah's Intelligence Array, who was responsible for the identification of civilian and military targets.

According to the IDF, on Saturday afternoon, with the direction of the IDF Intelligence Directorate, the IAF eliminated Hassan Khalil Yassin, a senior terrorist in Hezbollah's intelligence array, in a strike in the Dahieh area of Beirut.

Yassin stood at the head of a department responsible for the identification of civilian and military targets, on the northern border and deep within Israeli territory.

As part of his role, Yassin collaborated intensely with all of Hezbollah's offensive units, was personally involved in the planning of terror attacks that were executed during the war against Israeli civilians and soldiers, and planned additional attacks to be carried out in the coming days.