Top Hezbollah leader Sheikh Muhammad Ali Hamadi shot dead inside his home in Lebanon

Senior Hezbollah leader Sheikh Muhammad Ali Hamadi was assassinated on Tuesday by unidentified gunmen in Lebanon’s volatile Bekaa Valley. According to reports from the Times of Israel, Hamadi, a local Hezbollah commander, was shot six times in a drive-by near his residence in Machghara, located in the western Bekaa district. He was struck by six bullets and was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared him dead.

Lebanese authorities have launched an investigation into the killing, with initial speculation pointing to a protracted family feud as the possible motive.

Hamadi was no stranger to international notoriety, having once occupied a spot on the US Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) most-wanted terrorist list. He was implicated in the infamous hijacking of a TWA flight en route from Athens to Rome, which had 153 passengers and crew members on board.

The high-profile assassination unfolds just days before the expiration of a precarious 60-day ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah, set to end on January 26. Under the accord, Israel is mandated to withdraw its troops from southern Lebanon, while Hezbollah must pull back north of the Litani River, away from the Israeli border.

The region remains a powder keg of unrest, with the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah having displaced over 1.2 million Lebanese civilians and 50,000 Israelis. Lebanon has borne the brunt of Israel’s relentless airstrikes, which, according to Lebanese officials, have claimed over 3,700 lives—predominantly civilians.

On the other hand, Israeli authorities report that more than 130 lives have been lost on their side.