By Press TV Website Staff

Al-Aqsa Storm operation, which shattered Israel’s facade of invulnerability and sent shockwaves across the region, brought the Resistance Front closer together in support of Palestine.

Since October 8, 2023, only a day after Israel unleashed its genocidal war on the besieged Palestinian territory, the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah has opened a front against the Israeli regime in solidarity with Gaza, carrying out near-daily retaliatory operations aimed at confronting Israeli forces and forcing the regime to end its genocidal war on the besieged Palestinian territory.

The Lebanese resistance maintained its solidarity campaign for a long time despite relentless Israeli attacks, paying a heavy price, both in terms of lives and infrastructure.

Thousands of Lebanese civilians as well as resistance fighters were martyred, including senior commanders and iconic leaders who remained at the forefront of the confrontation.

Their martyrdom became part of a broader struggle that Hezbollah has portrayed as a battle to defend Palestine and prevent Israel from imposing its will on the region.

Among those martyred were Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Hashem Safieddine, Fuad Shukr, Ibrahim Aqil, Ali Karaki, Haytham Ali Tabatabai and Wissam al-Tawil — commanders and leaders whose lives were closely tied to Lebanon’s resistance and its stated commitment to the Palestinian cause.

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, a visionary leader and a backbone of the Axis of Resistance, was assassinated in a massive Israeli attack in the southern suburbs of Beirut on September 27, 2024.

Nasrallah was born on August 31, 1960, in the Matn district of the eastern suburbs of Beirut. He grew up in a poor Shia family and was displaced to southern Lebanon during his childhood.

Despite these challenges, Nasrallah was a motivated and devout student of Islam. In 1975, at the age of 16, he went to study theology at Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr’s seminary in Najaf, Iraq.

In 1979, the young Nasrallah joined the Amal Movement, a Lebanese Shia political group. He left the group in 1982 to join the nascent Hezbollah movement.

Nasrallah quickly rose through the ranks of the popular resistance movement, becoming a key military commander during the Israeli occupation of Lebanon in the 1980s.

In 1985, Nasrallah took on the role of deputy head of the region within Hezbollah.

Later, he was promoted to the position of chief executive, which involved carrying out decisions made by the organization’s Shura Council, the governing body responsible for making strategic decisions and formulating policies for the group.

In 1992, Abbas al-Musawi, the Lebanese Shia cleric and co-founder of Hezbollah who served as the group’s Secretary-General, was assassinated by the Israeli regime.

Nasrallah succeeded him as the leader of Hezbollah on February 16, 1992, a position he held until his martyrdom.

Under Nasrallah’s leadership, Hezbollah launched a series of highly effective operations against Israeli forces in southern Lebanon. The operations were designed to make the occupation of southern Lebanon untenable for Israeli forces and ultimately succeeded in achieving that goal.

In 2000, after nearly two decades of struggle, Israeli forces finally withdrew from southern Lebanon, marking a major victory for Hezbollah and the broader resistance movement in the region.

In 2004, Nasrallah played a pivotal role in negotiating a major prisoner exchange between the Israeli regime and Hezbollah, which resulted in the release of hundreds of Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

His leadership during the 33-day Lebanon War in 2006 further solidified his reputation as the “leader of the resistance” both within Lebanon and across the broader Arab and Islamic world.

Throughout the war, Hezbollah was able to hold the line against a massive Israeli military onslaught and emerged victorious, with its reputation greatly enhanced. His leadership was critical in defending Lebanon’s sovereignty and dignity and in inspiring a new generation of resistance fighters.

Nasrallah’s ironclad commitment to resistance against Israeli aggression and his unwavering support for the Palestinian cause made him a popular and respected figure in the Axis of Resistance.

Hashem Safieddine

Hashem Safieddine was the head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council. He was a cousin of Nasrallah and was considered a potential successor to him.

Safieddine was known to manage the day-to-day executive affairs of the Lebanese resistance movement while leaving strategic decisions to Nasrallah himself.

On October 23, 2024, Hezbollah, in a statement, confirmed the assassination of Safieddine in an airstrike earlier that month, only days after the assassination of Nasrallah.

Safieddine was born in 1964 in Deir Qanun En Nahr, southern Lebanon, into a scholarly family.

Safieddine studied theology in the holy Iraqi city of Najaf and the holy Iranian city of Qom before returning to Lebanon in 1994 to take up formal positions in the resistance movement.

A year after his return, he was appointed to Hezbollah’s Shura Council. He was also appointed head of the Jihad Council, which oversees the resistance group’s military activities.

In October 2008, during a general meeting of Hezbollah, Safieddine was chosen as Nasrallah’s heir apparent. A year later, he was again elected to the Shura Council and became the group’s commander in southern Lebanon in 2010.

The martyred leader was known for his eloquent oratory, taking inspiration from Nasrallah and Hezbollah founder Sayyed Abbas Mousavi, two powerful political orators of the modern era.

Like Nasrallah, he was a staunch supporter of Palestine and the Palestinian cause and repeatedly reiterated the Lebanese movement’s support for the Palestinian resistance against Israel.

Fuad Shukr

Fuad Shukr, a top-ranking Hezbollah military commander, was assassinated in an Israeli airstrike on July 30, 2024, in the congested neighborhood of Haret Hreik in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

Born on April 25, 1961, in Nabatieh in Baalbek, eastern Lebanon, Shukr was also known by the alias “al-Hajj Mohsen.” He was one of Hezbollah’s top military strategists.

Shukr was among the founders of Hezbollah following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and served as a military adviser to Nasrallah.

He was also a close friend of Hezbollah’s former military commander Imad Mughniyeh, who was assassinated by the Israeli military in February 2008 in Syria.

The slain commander played a key role on the battlefield during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in the early 1980s and was wounded in clashes with regime forces in Khalde in 1982.

He rose through the ranks to become Hezbollah’s first central military commander, overseeing the planning and execution of operations against Israeli occupation forces throughout the 1990s.

His influence extended beyond Lebanon, as he organized the deployment of Hezbollah fighters to support Bosnian Muslims during the 1992–1995 war.

Shukr continued to be a key figure within the Hezbollah resistance movement, developing military strategies to counter both Israeli and Takfiri terrorist threats.

He served on the group’s central leadership council and led the movement’s operations against the apartheid regime in the aftermath of the Al-Aqsa Storm operation.

Ibrahim Aqil

Ibrahim Aqil, one of the top-ranking commanders of the Hezbollah resistance movement, was martyred in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a residential area in the southern suburbs of Beirut on September 20, 2024.

Also known as Hajj Abdul-Qader, Aqil was born on December 24, 1962, in Bednayel, a settlement in the Baalbek district of the Beqaa Valley in northeastern Lebanon.

In the early 1980s, he was one of the founders of the Islamic movement in Beirut.

Following the Israeli regime’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982, Aqil spearheaded numerous battles and operations against the occupying entity that ultimately resulted in its defeat and withdrawal from the Arab country.

He took charge of Hezbollah’s central training in the early 1990s, playing a pivotal role in developing the resistance’s human resources. He was later appointed chief of staff of the Islamic Resistance.

From 1997 until the final victory in 2000, he led a number of significant operations in Jabal Amel, a region stretching from the Hula Valley to the Mediterranean Sea in southern Lebanon.

Some four months before the end of the war in 2000, an attempt was made to assassinate him with rockets fired from an Israeli helicopter at his car, but he survived with minor injuries.

In 2006, he played a prominent role in the war against the Israeli regime, from which Hezbollah again emerged victorious after a month of fierce fighting.

Two years later, he established Hezbollah’s Operations Command and also became a member of the Jihad Council, serving as Nasrallah’s assistant for operations affairs.

In 2008, he founded the Radwan Force, a unit named after Mughniyeh and derived from Hezbollah’s earlier special forces.

He led its development and commanded the force until his martyrdom.

Since the events of October 7, 2023, Aqil had led the Lebanese resistance’s operations against the Israeli entity, inflicting heavy blows on the regime and its proxies.

Ali Karaki

Among those martyred alongside Nasrallah in Israel’s September 27, 2024 strike was senior Hezbollah commander Ali Abdul Moneim Karaki.

Karaki, known as Hajj Abu al-Fadl, was a key figure in Hezbollah’s years-long struggle for the liberation of occupied parts of Lebanon.

Born on May 10, 1962, in al-Musaytibah and originally from the town of Ain Bouswar in southern Lebanon, Karaki was a member of the founding generation of Islamic Work in Beirut.

His lifelong commitment to resistance began during the 1982 Israeli invasion of Beirut, when he emerged as a leader in military operations against the occupying entity.

Karaki played a pivotal role in planning and overseeing numerous operations against the Israeli regime, including Ahmad Qassir’s operation against the headquarters of the Israeli governor in Tyre.

Following the Israeli withdrawal from Sidon, south of Beirut, in 1985, Karaki established resistance fronts and formations in border areas.

He took command of the southern region until 1996, planning and leading several successful operations against Israeli military positions until the liberation of southern Lebanon in 2000.

From 2006 until his martyrdom, he oversaw all formations and units within the Sayyed al-Shuhada (AS) headquarters and served as an aide to Nasrallah from 2008 onward.

Demonstrating his unwavering dedication to the cause, Karaki actively planned and led military operations against Takfiri terrorist groups, including Daesh and al-Qaeda.

He also played a crucial role in military operations on the Lebanese support front following the Al-Aqsa Storm operation.

Haytham Ali Tabtabai

Senior Hezbollah commander Haytham Ali Tabatabai was martyred in a devastating Israeli airstrike in the southern suburbs of Beirut on November 23, 2025.

Tabatabai was born on November 5, 1968, in Beirut to an Iranian father and a Lebanese mother.

He joined Hezbollah in the 1980s. He had participated in military operations since the 1990s, conducting special operations against the Israeli military during its occupation of southern Lebanon in 1993 and 1996.

He commanded Hezbollah’s operations in Nabatieh between 1996 and 2000 and was a commander of the group’s October 2000 cross-border operation into Israel that resulted in the capture and later killing of three soldiers.

He managed the area of Khiam between 2000 and 2008, commanding the resistance group’s activities in the area during the 2006 Lebanon War.

After the assassination of Imad Mughniyeh, he was appointed leader of Hezbollah’s strike force, which later became the Radwan Force.

Tabatabai replaced Ali Karaki as commander of Hezbollah’s Southern Front following Karaki’s assassination.

Following the 2024 Israel–Lebanon ceasefire agreement, he became Hezbollah’s chief of staff and worked to restore the group’s readiness.

He led Hezbollah’s efforts to rebuild its forces in southern Lebanon, as well as the recruitment and training of fighters.

He was Hezbollah’s second-in-command after Naim Qassem, the group’s Secretary-General since October 2024, and had extensive military and operational experience.

Wissam al-Tawil

Wissam Hassan Tawil, hailing from the town of Khirbet Selem in southern Lebanon, was martyred in an Israeli strike on January 8, 2024, becoming the first high-profile Hezbollah commander to be martyred since October 7, 2023.

Born in Tyre, Lebanon, in 1970, al-Tawil joined Hezbollah in 1989 and actively engaged in numerous operations against the Israeli regime.

During his years with Hezbollah, Tawil was close to the group’s founding military chief, Imad Mughniyeh, until the latter’s assassination in 2008.

At the time of his martyrdom, he held the position of deputy commander of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Unit.

He rose through the ranks of the Lebanese resistance movement to become one of its prominent commanders, ultimately achieving his goal of martyrdom on the path of al-Quds.