IDF says it killed top commander of Hezbollah-linked group in airstrike

Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent

Rescuers and Lebanese soldiers gather on a destroyed building hit in an Israeli airstrike in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Rescuers and Lebanese soldiers gather on a destroyed building hit in an Israeli airstrike in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

The IDF says it killed a top commander in a Hezbollah-allied militia in Lebanon, along with eight other operatives, in a strike in Sidon yesterday.

The strike in Sidon killed Maher Qassem Hamdan, who the IDF says was the commander of the Lebanese Resistance Companies in the Shebaa area, close to Israel’s border.

The militia, also known as the Lebanese Resistance Brigades, is funded, trained, armed, and was founded by Hezbollah.

The military says Hamdan was responsible for “recruiting terrorists, supplying weapons, and funding the Lebanese Companies” in Shebaa.

According to the IDF, Hamdan and seven other members of the militia fled from Shebaa to Sidon, where they were targeted and killed.

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