The Hezbollah terrorist organization announced on Monday that the commander of its elite Redwan Force, Wissam al-Tawil, was killed in southern Lebanon in an attack attributed to Israel.
A source within Hezbollah described al-Tawil’s assassination as “an extremely painful blow,” while another source said that the targeted official “was assuming leadership responsibility in managing Hezbollah’s operations in the south.”
Hezbollah mourned “the martyr Mujahid Commander Wissam Hassan Tawil,” and said that he “rose as a martyr on the road to Jerusalem,” which is the term Hezbollah uses to mourn its fighters who have been killed by Israeli fire since the start of the war in Gaza.
This is the first time that Hezbollah has used the term “leader” when mourning one of its members.
Lebanese observers believe that the operation that led to the assassination of al-Taweel was more complex than simply monitoring calls and radio tracking, or through surveillance drones. Clearly, intelligence information is leaking to Israel, those observers say, enabling it to direct strikes against leading figures from Hezbollah and Hamas, as happened with the assassination of the head of Hamas’s contingency in Lebanon, Saleh Al-Arouri, inside Hezbollah’s stronghold in a southern suburb of Beirut.
They point out that Hezbollah faces a difficult challenge in uncovering the cracks through which information is leaking to Israel, the extent of which is unknown.
Al-Tawil, 54, commanded the Redwan Unit, whose goal is to infiltrate Israel during the coming war and occupy the north of the country. According to Israeli sources, was responsible for the 60-rocket attack on Israel’s Air Force intelligence base in Mount Meron last Saturday. According to the reports in the Arab media, the vehicle in which al-Tawil was driving was attacked from the air near the town of Kharbat Salem in southern Lebanon.
Al-Tawil was actively involved in multiple offensives against Israeli forces and their Lebanese affiliates in the first Lebanon War. In 2006, he participated in the cross-border raid orchestrated by Hezbollah that marked the beginning of the second Lebanon War, with the capture of Israeli soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser.
Throughout the Syrian civil war, al-Tawil played a crucial role in bolstering Bashar al-Assad’s government against rebel forces. Additionally, he played a part in the Houthi takeover in Yemen, facilitating the transfer of long-range missiles to the Iranian-supported militia.
Al Arab UK said Hezbollah suffered a severe loss with the assassination of one of its most prominent field leaders, in an operation that demonstrated the depth of the organization’s exposure to Israeli intelligence, which cannot be achieved without infiltrating the command ranks of Hezbollah.
