A senior Hezbollah figure and an Iraqi militia commander aligned with Iran were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Tehran, according to a Lebanese security source and a statement by the Iraqi group Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada.
The Hezbollah official, identified as Abu Ali Khalil, previously served as a bodyguard to the late Hassan Nasrallah, the group’s top leader, who was reportedly killed in an Israeli aerial strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs last September.
Khalil had traveled to Iraq for a religious pilgrimage, where he reunited with a member of Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada. The two then made their way to Iran.
According to security sources, the pair were targeted and killed alongside Khalil’s son in Tehran.
The Iraqi group confirmed the deaths in an official statement, noting the loss of its security chief and the Hezbollah operative.
Despite ongoing Israeli strikes against targets in Lebanon, Hezbollah has not launched retaliatory strikes from Lebanese territory in Iran’s recent confrontations with Israel.
However, tensions remain high as both Israel and Iran have exchanged cross-border attacks for over a week, raising fears of a broader regional war.
Witnesses in Beirut reported mourning gunfire and tracer rounds lighting the night sky in Dahiyeh, a Hezbollah stronghold in the capital’s southern suburbs.
The nine-day escalation began after Israel struck multiple targets in Iran, citing fears that Tehran was accelerating its nuclear weapons ambitions—an allegation Iran continues to deny, insisting its program is for peaceful purposes.
