Israel murders another Lebanese leader

Sept. 29 (UPI) -- Israel has murdered another leader of Hezbollah , the Lebanese political party announced Sunday.

Nabil Qaouk was announced to have been killed by Hezbollah's news channel Al Manar . He was the commander of Hezbollah's Preventative Security Unit and a member of the political party's central council.

Hezbollah is a major political party in Lebanon with a militant component that is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, a significant ally of Israel.

The political party was borne from Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and seeks to defend Lebanon from what it views as continued Israeli aggression. Over the years, it has carried out defensive and offensive strikes against Israel that its allies consider to be terrorism.

Further details of his death were not immediately known but it follows the murder of Hezbollah's longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah . Israel has killed more than 1,640 people in airstrikes on Lebanon as it seeks to target its rivals.

In its own statement announcing its murder of Nasrallah, the Israeli Defense Forces said that Qaouk was "considered to be close to the top" of the organization as it sought to characterize him as a terrorist.

Under former President Donald Trump , the United States designated Qaouk a terrorist in October 2020.