Ali Hussein Barji

Ali Hussein Barji was a Lebanese militant and the commander of Hezbollah's aerial forces in southern Lebanon. He was reportedly killed by an Israeli airstrike in Khirbet Selm, Lebanon, during the 2023–2024 Israel–Hezbollah conflict.

Military career

Barji played a key role in the development of Hezbollah's suicide drone system. During the Syrian civil war, he was one of the highest-ranking Hezbollah officials engaged in combat in the Idlib region. Barji orchestrated numerous drone attacks on Israeli forces during the 2023–2024 Israel–Hezbollah conflict. Notably, he orchestrated a strike on an Israeli airbase in Mount Meron on 6 January 2024, and targeted Israel's Northern Command headquarters in Safed on 9 January 2024.

Death

On 9 January 2024, he was killed in an Israeli airstrike while attending the funeral of Wissam al-Tawil, another Hezbollah senior commander who had been killed the previous day. Israel stated that his killing was a response to the drone attack in Safed that had occurred earlier that day.