Hassan Jaafar Al-Qasir, the son-in-law of deceased Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, has been reportedly killed in an Israeli attack on a residential apartment in Damascus' Mazze district. Two Lebanese individuals killed in an Israeli attack, including Al-Qasir, reported AFP citing sources. Al-Qasir's death comes just a week after Nasrallah was killed in a significant Israeli airstrike at Hezbollah's underground headquarters in Beirut.
"Hassan Jaafar al-Qasir, the son-in-law of Hassan Nasrallah, was among two Lebanese victims of the Israeli raid which targeted an apartment in a residential building in the Mazze district of Damascus," a told source close to Hezbollah confirmed AFP.
Hezbollah's longstandiong chief, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed last Friday in an airstrike by Israeli. Israeli forces carried out "targeted strike" on Hezbollah's underground headquarters beneath a residential building in Dahiyeh. Several high-rise buildings were destroyed by the air strikes in the southern suburbs of Beirut. Visuals released by the Israeli Air Force showed buildings being reduced to rubble within seconds.
Israel used 900 kg Mark 84 series bombs, popularly known as bunker buster, in the strike. According to Mark Kelly, chair of the Senate Armed Services Airland Subcommittee, 2,000-lb (900-kg) Mark 84 series bombs pounded Hezbollah headquarters last week. “We see more use of guided munitions, JDAMs, and we continue to provide those weapons…That 2,000-pound bomb that was used, that's a Mark 84 series bomb, to take out Nasrallah,” said Kelly, as quoted by Reuters.
The Lebanese Health Ministry said six people were killed and 91 injured in the strikes Friday that levelled six apartment buildings. Ali Karki, the commander of Hezbollah's Southern Front, and other commanders were also killed, the Israeli military said.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had warned Nasrallah to flee Lebanon days before he was killed. Following pager blasts, Khamenei had asked Nasrallah to leave for Iran, citing intelligence reports that suggested Israel had operatives within Hezbollah and was planning to kill him, according to Reuters.
An Iranian mole may have informed Israeli authorities about Nasrallah's location just before the strike. Nasrallah was rarely seen in public since his movement fought the 34-day war against Israel in 2006 and has been living in hiding since then.
Nasrallah, accused of carrying out deadly attacks on Jewish targets, has been on Israel's target for decades. An Iranian mole had informed Israeli authorities about Nasrallah's location, reported French newspaper Le Parisien hours after his death. The report claimed that a mole informed Israeli authorities that Nasrallah would be at Hezbollah's underground headquarters in Beirut's southern suburbs to attend a meeting with several top members of the organisation.
Following Nasrallah's death, Iran launched barrage of missiles on Israel on Tuesfay. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed the missile assault was a response to the recent Israeli killings of militant leaders and aggression against the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as in Gaza, as per Reuters. In a statement, the IDF reported that all Israeli civilians are currently in bomb shelters as rockets are being fired from Iran towards Israel.