The Israeli military said it killed Maher Qassem Hamdan, a commander in the Lebanese Resistance Brigades, and Ali Yusuf Harshi, a senior aide and relative of Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem, in separate strikes in Lebanon. The claims were reported on April 9, 2026, the event date.
According to the Israel Defense Forces, Hamdan was killed on Wednesday in southern Lebanon. It described him as the Lebanese Resistance Brigades commander for the Mount Dov, or Shebaa Farms, area and said the organization was affiliated with and financed by Hezbollah. The military accused Hamdan of overseeing recruitment and the provision of weapons and money.
The IDF also said seven other fighters were killed while fleeing. The supplied report did not include independent confirmation of their identities, the circumstances of the strike or the Israeli military's allegations about Hamdan's activities.
Harshi was killed in Beirut on Wednesday during a broader series of Israeli attacks on what the IDF described as Hezbollah infrastructure, the military said. It identified him as Qassem's nephew and personal secretary, as well as an adviser involved in managing and protecting the Hezbollah leader's office.
The Israeli account placed the two deaths within an expanding operation across Lebanon. The IDF said overnight strikes hit two crossings allegedly used to move Hezbollah personnel and weapons between territory north and south of the Litani River. It also reported attacks on about 10 weapons-storage sites, launchers and command centers in southern Lebanon.
Israeli forces were simultaneously conducting ground operations in the south. The military said the Paratroopers Brigade had established operational control in key sectors, while other units found firearms, ammunition and explosive devices. In a separate incident earlier in the week, it said troops killed a fighter who emerged from a shaft leading to an underground site where explosives, rockets, rocket-propelled-grenade launchers and grenades were found.
The IDF further claimed that its 215th Fire Brigade had killed more than 70 Hezbollah fighters over several days, including a group preparing mortar fire. Those figures and battlefield descriptions were presented as Israeli military statements and were not independently verified in the supplied account.
On Wednesday, the IDF had characterized its attacks as its largest coordinated wave across Lebanon since the start of Operation Roaring Lion, saying more than 100 Hezbollah command centers and military sites in Beirut were targeted. The operations continued amid conflicting accounts about whether Lebanon was covered by a ceasefire with Iran announced by US President Donald Trump. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu maintained that Lebanon was not included.
The available evidence contained no response from Hezbollah or Lebanese authorities to the reported deaths. As a result, the identities, roles and operational claims in the account remain attributed to the Israeli military.
