In drone footage shared by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), the killing of Muhammad Hussein Srour, a senior commander in Hezbollah, is captured as multiple explosions rock a residential building in the Southern Suburb of Beirut.
Muhammad Hussein Srour, known as ‘Hajj Abu Saleh,’ was born in 1973 in Aita al-Shaab, a village in southern Lebanon. He joined Hezbollah in 1996 and took on various organisational roles within the group, advancing through the ranks to become a key figure in its military operations.
Throughout his career, Srour was involved in numerous strategic initiatives against Israeli forces and fought for the Hezbollah along Lebanon’s eastern borders and in Syria.He was specifically noted for leading Hezbollah’s aerial command and was reportedly responsible for orchestrating drone and explosive attacks against Israeli targets.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the killing of Srour, stating that he authorised the strike while he was in flight.
“During the flight, I authorized a strike, and ‘other things,’ on the head of Hezbollah’s UAV unit, and he was killed. Our policy is clear – we will continue to hit Hezbollah with full force, and we will not stop until we achieve all our goals,” Netanyahu said.
In recent years, Srour was instrumental in developing Hezbollah’s unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capabilities, establishing manufacturing sites near civilian areas in southern Lebanon and Beirut, which raised concerns about civilian safety amidst ongoing conflicts. Additionally, he commanded Hezbollah’s surface-to-air missile unit and was linked to operations involving the Houthi forces in Yemen.
The airstrike that killed Srour is part of a broader escalation in hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah since the onset of the conflict following the October 7 attack by Hamas, which has seen both sides exchanging fire regularly. Hezbollah responded to the Hamas attack by launching rockets into northern Israel, resulting in heightened military responses from both sides.