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Thursday, March 12, 2026
Top commander in elite Hezbollah unit killed in strike last week — IDF
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleEmanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
The IDF says the commander of the south Lebanon sector in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force was killed in an airstrike last week.
Abu Ali Riyan was targeted in an airstrike in the southern Lebanese town of Harouf on Saturday, according to the military.
The military says Riyan managed the Radwan Force in southern Lebanon and was a “central figure responsible for coordinating operations, recruiting operatives, and managing the unit’s weapons supply chain.”
The IDF says it has killed over 350 terror operatives in Lebanon since hostilities escalated this month, mostly Hezbollah members, including over 100 fighters in the Radwan Force.
More than 60 command centers of the Radwan Force have also been struck, the army says.
The Radwan Force was previously tasked with invading Israel in a future war, and the IDF says the elite unit had advanced the terror group’s “Conquer the Galilee” plan for years, until the 2023-2024 war that saw most of Hezbollah’s leadership eliminated.
The Times of Israel Community.