Ali Reda Abbas was appointed commander of Hezbollah's Radwan unit following an Israeli airstrike that killed former commander Ibrahim Aqil and 16 other key leaders.
Sullivan said the Friday strike served justice to Aqil, who was wanted by the US for two 1983 Beirut truck bombings that killed more than 300 people at the American embassy and a US Marines barracks.
Hezbollah credited Wahabi as a key member of Hezbollah's training protocol, calling him the head of their "central training unit."
Aqil was considered the second-in-command in the organization after leader Hassan Nasrallah. If indeed he was eliminated, Hezbollah once again finds itself vulnerable to Israeli intelligence.
Ibrahim Aqil and the other commanders who were killed planned to invade Israeli territory, capture settlements, and kidnap and murder Israeli civilians.
The Radwan Force is central to Hezbollah’s military doctrine, which emphasizes asymmetric warfare against a technologically superior adversary like Israel.
"This elimination is intended to protect the citizens of Israel," Biden said in a brief statement to the press, adding that Israel was not seeking regional escalation.
Security sources told Reuters that other members of Hezbollah's Radwan Force were killed when the Israeli strike hit a meeting they were attending.
"Anyone who thinks that Hezbollah isn't training to infiltrate a squad of fighters into Israeli territory is mistaken," officers said.
Several suspicious aerial targets were seen crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory following sirens that sounded between 8:38 p.m. and 8:46 p.m. in the Upper and Western Galilee area.
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