Claim
An X user, @VividProwess claimed that the entire Hezbollah leadership and top-ranking commanders have all been killed by Israeli forces.
Verdict
This claim is FALSE. Available credible reports confirmed that Naim Qassem, a high-ranking Hezbollah leader appointed in October, is still alive.
Full Text
An X user, @VividProwess, has claimed that the entire Hezbollah leadership is dead.
The X user, who may be seen as a pro-Israeli, shared a photo containing a list of Hezbollah commanders who were killed by the Israeli military recently.
The X user wrote, “BREAKING:
The last Hezbollah top commander left alive of Hezbollah’s leadership, Abu Ali Rida, has been killed by the Israeli Air Force.
“The Entire Hezbollah Leadership and Top-Ranking Commanders are now dead.
The post by @VividProwess garnered over 140k views, more than 2k reposts, and 10.3k likes, according to X analytics.
Recently, the Israeli forces intensified their operations in Lebanon thereby killing many Hezbollah fighters and civilians.
Verification
This Fact Checker traced and found out that Naim Qassem who was named the Hezbollah leader on 29 October, is still alive.
Naim Qassem was appointed new leader after his predecessor, Hassan Nasrallah, in Beirut over a month ago.
The current Hezbollah leader, Naim Qassem was appointed as Hezbollah’s deputy chief in 1991 by the armed group’s then-secretary general Abbas al-Musawi, who was killed by an Israeli helicopter attack the following year.
Qassem remained in his role when Nasrallah became leader, and has long been one of Hezbollah’s leading spokesmen, conducting interviews with foreign media, including while cross-border hostilities with Israel raged over the last year.
Since Nasrallah’s killing, Qassem has given three televised addresses, including one on Oct. 8 in which he said the armed group supported efforts to reach a ceasefire for Lebanon.
On November 06, Hezbollah’s chief said that only developments on the battlefield, not political moves, would bring an end to the hostilities between the Lebanese armed group and the Israeli military.
He said that he did not believe that “political action” would bring about an end to the more than year-long conflict, playing out in parallel with Israel’s war in Gaza.
Aside from Naim Qassem, the other leaders of the armed Islamic group are not are not known.
Conclusion
An X user, @VividProwess, made a false claim that all Hezbollah’s top leaders have been killed by Israeli forces. However, the findings say otherwise.
Credit: FACTWATCH
