Who is Ali Karaki, Hezbollah senior commander and target of Israeli strike on Lebanon?

Hezbollah said the senior commander was well and in a 'safe place' after the Israeli strike

The rubble at one site of Friday's Israeli strike on Dahieh. AP

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Senior Hezbollah commander Ali Karaki was the target of an Israeli strike on the Bir El Abed neighbourhood in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahieh on Monday. Hezbollah published a statement saying that Mr Karaki was well and in a safe place after the Israeli strike, responding to the “allegations of the Zionist enemy regarding the assassination".

The Israeli army said that it would provide further details on the “targeted strike” soon. This was the fourth Israeli strike in Beirut since the start of the war.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said in the evening that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah "remains alone at the top. Entire units of the Radwan Force were taken out of service, and tens of thousands of rockets were destroyed".

A few days ago, the Israeli army released a graphic claiming to show the current military leadership of Hezbollah, in which Mr Karaki appears as the third-ranking member of the organisation.

In September 2019, he was hit by us sanctions along with Ibrahim Aqil and Fouad Shukr, two other senior Hezbollah commanders killed in Israeli strikes this year.

The US State Department described Mr Karaki at the time as a “senior member of Hezbollah's Jihad Council,” Hezbollah's top military body, adding that he is responsible for military operations in southern Lebanon.

There is no public picture of him. He is one of the only surviving founding members after the assassinations of Mr Shukr and Mr Aqil, with whom he shares a similar rank. Mr Aqil and Mr Shukr were also members of Hezbollah’s Jihad Council.

Israeli media reports claim that Mr Aqil became Mr Nasrallah's second-in-command after Israel's July assassination of Mr Shukr, who had previously held the position. Mr Aqil was killed on Friday in an air strike on Beirut's Dahieh.

Tension in Lebanon has reached high levels, with Israel launching a massive aerial campaign that has killed at least 356 people in the country.