A Lebanese woman holds a portrait of slain Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, as she waits with others for permission from the Lebanese army to enter their village after the Israeli troops withdrew from it, in Bint Jbeil town, south Lebanon, on January 26, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP

The head of Lebanon’s armed group Hezbollah said on Sunday (February 2, 2025) that his predecessor, Hassan Nasrallah, would be laid to rest on February 23, nearly five months after he was killed in an Israeli air attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Nasrallah, who had served as Hezbollah’s secretary general for more than 30 years, was killed on September 27 as Israel ramped up its air attacks on Hezbollah targets and just days before Israeli troops began ground incursions into southern Lebanon.

His successor Naim Qassem said in a televised address on Sunday that Nasrallah was killed “at a time when circumstances were difficult,” forcing the group to conduct a temporary burial for him according to religious tradition.

Mr. Qassem said the group had now decided to hold “a grand funeral procession with a large public presence” for both Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine, another top Hezbollah official killed in an Israeli strike nearly a week after Nasrallah.

Mr. Qassem confirmed on Sunday for the first time that Safieddine had been elected as Nasrallah’s successor but was killed before the announcement was made. He said Safieddine would also be buried with the title of secretary general.

The killings of both Nasrallah and Safieddine — as well as many of the group’s top military commanders — threw Hezbollah into disarray. The group announced on October 29 that Mr. Qassem, the group’s deputy leader, had been elected as its head.

A ceasefire agreed in late November ended hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel and set a 60-day deadline for Israeli troops to withdraw from southern Lebanon, Hezbollah to remove its fighters and arms from the area and Lebanese troops to deploy there.

That deadline was extended last month until February 18. Israel has continued to carry out some airstrikes on parts of Lebanon, accusing Hezbollah of violating the terms of the ceasefire.

Hezbollah says Israel is responsible for the breaches and says the Lebanese state and the deal’s foreign sponsors — the U.S. and France — should prevent Israel’s violations. But it has not threatened to resume fighting.

Yahya Sinwar, Hassan Nasrallah, and Ismail Haniyeh who were killed in the ongoing war with Israel.

On October 17 2024, Israel announced the death of Yahya Sinwar, a chief architect of Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, that sparked the Israel-Hamas war. This comes on the heels of Israeli strikes in Lebanon that killed many high-ranking Hezbollah leaders in recent weeks, including Hassan Nasrallah . So far, several Hamas and Hezbollah leaders have been killed along with other militants since the beginning of the current war.

Also read: Sinwar killing LIVE updates

Here’s a list of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders who have been killed in the ongoing war

1. Yahya Sinwar: Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza. He was driven by his deep antipathy towards the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and deep commitment to the Islamist ideology of Hamas.

2. Hassan Nasrallah: Lebanon’s Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, whom Israel said on September 28, 2024, it has killed, led Hezbollah through decades of conflict with Israel, overseeing its transformation into a military force with regional sway and becoming one of the most prominent Arab figures in generations — with Iranian backing.

3. Fatah Sharif: The Israeli Army said on September 30, 2024 that its forces “eliminated” Hamas’ leader Sharif in Lebanon, as it continued to target Iran-backed militant groups in the neighbouring country.

4. Ali Karaki: One of Hezbollah’s top commanders, Ali Karaki was killed in the airstrike that assassinated Nasrallah. The Israeli military said more than 20 militants of varying ranks were killed in the strike on a underground bunker.

5. Nabil Kaouk: Kaouk, who was killed in an airstrike on September 28, 2024, was the deputy head of Hezbollah’s Central Council. 

6. Mohammed Srur: Srur was the head of Hezbollah’s drone unit, which was used for the first time in this current conflict with Israel. Under his leadership, Hezbollah launched exploding and reconnaissance drones deep into Israel, penetrating its defense systems, which had mostly focused on the group’s rockets and missiles.

7. Ibrahim Qubaisi: He led Hezbollah’s missile unit. The Israeli military says Qubaisi planned the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli soldiers at the northern border in 2000, whose bodies were returned in a prisoner swap with Hezbollah four years later.

8. Ibrahim Aqil: Ibrahim Aqil, the Hezbollah operations commander killed in an Israeli strike on September 20, 2024, had a $7 million bounty on his head for two 1983 Beirut truck bombings that killed more than 300 people at the American embassy and a U.S. Marines barracks.

9. Ahmed Mahmud Wahbi: Ahmed Wahbi, a top commander who oversaw the military operations of the Radwan special forces until early 2024, was killed in an Israel strike that targeted several top commanders in the Beirut suburbs on September 20, including Ibrahim Aqil.

10. Fuad Shukr: An Israeli strike on the southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital on July 30 killed Hezbollah’s top commander Fuad Shukr. Shukr had been one of Hezbollah’s leading military figures since it was established by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in 1982.

11. Mohammed Nasser: Mohammed Nasser was killed in an Israeli airstrike on July 3. Israel claimed responsibility, saying he headed a unit responsible for firing from southwestern Lebanon at Israel. Nasser, a senior commander in Hezbollah, was responsible for a section of Hezbollah’s operations at the frontier, according to senior security sources in Lebanon.

12. Taleb Abdallah: Senior Hezbollah field commander Abdallah was killed on June 12 in a strike claimed by Israel, which said it had hit a command and control centre in southern Lebanon. Security sources in Lebanon said he was Hezbollah’s commander for the central region of the southern border strip and was of the same rank as Nasser.

13. Mohammed Deif: Hamas leader Deif was killed in an air strike by Israeli military on August 1. Deif had been on Israel’s kill list at least since the early 2000s.

14. Ismail Haniyeh: Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated on July 31 during a visit to Tehran. He had been the Hamas leader since 2017. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said he was killed by a short-range projectile.

15. Saleh-Al Arouri: An Israeli drone strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs of Dahiyeh killed deputy Hamas chief Saleh al-Arouri on January 2, 2024. Arouri was also the founder of Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades.

16. Marwan Issa: Deputy Hamas military commander Marwan Issa was killed in an Israeli strike in March, the Israeli military said. He had been at the top of Israel’s most-wanted listed alongside Deif and Sinwar.