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Tuesday, September 24, 2024
4 Shiite clerics presumed to be Hezbollah commanders killed in yesterday’s IDF strikes – report
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleGianluca Pacchiani is the Arab affairs reporter for The Times of Israel
Four Shiite clerics believed to be Hezbollah commanders were killed in yesterday’s strikes in Lebanon, the Saudi media channel Al Arabiya reports.
The four are named as sheikhs Abdul Minam Mahna, Amin Saad, Muhammad Salah and Ali Abu Raya. Al Arabiya describes all of them collectively as “Hezbollah commanders.”
Canadian Arabic-language news website Sada Online eulogizes both Saad and Abu Raya and reports that they had served as imams in Canada. The former was reportedly the head of the Islamic Center of Hamilton, Ontario, between 2000 and 2006, while no details are provided on the latter, other than that he served the Canadian Shiite community for “many years.”
Israel’s Alma Research Center, which focuses on Lebanon and the northern front, reported in 2022 that a Hezbollah member named Ali Abu Raya was an officer in the Latin American department of Hezbollah’s foreign service. It is not clear if it is the same Hezbollah cleric who was killed yesterday.
Various unverified reports refer to Abdul Minam Mahna with the honorific title of “ayatollah,” indicating a high-ranking Shiite cleric.
At least 558 people were killed in extensive IDF airstrikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon since yesterday, and 1,833 were wounded, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
The figures do not differentiate between members of the terror group and civilians.
مصادر #العربية تؤكد مقتل 4 قيادات في #حزب_الله اللبناني خلال ساعات بضربات إسرائيلية.. وهم #عبدالمنعم_مهنا و #محمد_صالح و #أمين_سعد و #علي_أبو_ريا#لبنان pic.twitter.com/KHbE3iwiyC
— العربية (@AlArabiya) September 23, 2024
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