A Hezbollah chief, tipped as one of Hassan Nasrallah’s successors, has been killed in Lebanon, according to Israel’s military.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said on Sunday that it killed Nabil Kaouk, the deputy head of Hezbollah’s central council, amid an ongoing exchange of strikes between the two sides.

Kaouk had been tipped as one of Nasrallah’s potential successors after playing a pivotal role in military operations against Israel.

He was a veteran fighter since the 1980s and had previously served as Hezbollah’s military commander in southern Lebanon.

Kaouk often appeared in local media, where he would comment on politics and security developments, and he gave eulogies at the funerals of senior militants. The United States had announced sanctions against him in 2020.

Hezbollah has not yet commented on Kaouk but supporters have been posting mourning messages for him online.

Another senior commander killed

Hezbollah did confirm on Sunday that another of its senior commanders, Ali Karaki, died in the Israeli airstrike that killed Nasrallah on Friday.

Karaki was a member of the group’s Jihad council and the commander of the organisation’s southern front.

He had escaped death last Monday when Israel said it attempted to assassinate him in an airstrike on Dahiyeh.

Hezbollah read a statement announcing his death, saying: “[Karaki] was directly and on the ground responsible for leading the southern front with all its axes and units in the support front from Oct 8 2023, until his blessed martyrdom.”

Hezbollah’s senior military leadership is now almost completely wiped out.

Several senior Hezbollah commanders have been killed in Israeli strikes in recent weeks, including the founding members of the group who had evaded death or detention for decades and were close to Nasrallah himself.

Hezbollah members were also targeted by Israel in a sophisticated attack on its pagers and walkie-talkies that was widely blamed on Israel.