Israel’s Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir said on Tuesday that Palestinian figures linked to Iran had been killed “inside a safe house they had taken refuge in,” while Israeli military correspondents, citing sources, said the targets were two senior leaders in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The sources identified them as the group’s deputy leader, Mohammad al-Hindi, and the head of its armed wing, the Al-Quds Brigades, Akram al-Ajouri.
Islamic Jihad is the largest faction financially and logistically linked to Iran.
Reports differed on whether both men were targeted or only one of them.
Israel’s Channel 12 said the strike targeted al-Ajouri and several of his aides in the Iranian city of Qom, while Channel 14 reported that al-Hindi was also targeted.
According to Channel 14, the attack, which it said took place four days ago, hit Islamic Jihad leaders in a fortified underground location, with dozens of bombs dropped to ensure the site was destroyed and those inside killed.
Islamic Jihad had not commented on the Israeli reports by midday Tuesday and maintained silence.
However, a source familiar with the group told Asharq Al-Awsat that it was “unlikely that al-Hindi was at the site of the attack or in Iran in general.”
The source said al-Hindi’s movements are kept secret due to repeated targeting attempts, adding that, according to the latest confirmed information within the group’s leadership, he had been in another country, not Iran, days earlier.
Several Islamic Jihad sources said al-Hindi’s visits to Tehran had already been limited even before Oct. 7, 2023, and had declined significantly since then.
Who is Mohammad al-Hindi?
For years, al-Hindi, born in 1955, has been on Israel’s wanted list. Israel attempted to assassinate him several times while he was in Gaza, though such attempts declined after he left the enclave in 2014. He has since been based mainly in Türkiye, traveling to other countries.
Al-Hindi was third in the group’s leadership before Ziyad al-Nakhalah became secretary-general in 2018, following the deterioration of the health of his predecessor Ramadan Shallah, who died in 2020.
Following those changes, al-Hindi became the group’s number two. He is known for his close ties to Hamas and played a key role in improving relations between the two movements. He also built important ties with figures in Türkiye and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Al-Hindi is credited with making the group more open over the past decade to relations with other movements and states, including Qatar, given its role in mediations on the Palestinian cause, as well as building ties with Egyptian officials handling the matter.
Before leaving Gaza, he also supported Egyptian intelligence efforts to contain armed clashes between Fatah and Hamas during the 2006 to 2007 split, leveraging his strong ties with both movements.
Who is Akram al-Ajouri?
Al-Ajouri, believed to be in his sixties, is one of the most influential figures in Islamic Jihad, not only operationally, through his role in arming the Al-Quds Brigades in Gaza, but also through his strong ties with leaders of Hezbollah and, previously, with the government of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
Sources in the group say al-Ajouri is of particular importance to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards due to his role in executing missions and planning military operations, including weapons transfers to Gaza and other areas, as well as forming multiple militant cells in the West Bank.
He oversees the group’s military portfolio and has long managed its armed wing, including weapons procurement in Gaza and the West Bank, as well as efforts to build up its military presence in Lebanon and Syria.
He has also pushed fighters in both countries to take part in operations launched from Lebanon and to support Hezbollah since Oct. 8, 2023.
Al-Ajouri has survived several assassination attempts, including two in Syria. He escaped one in 2014, while another in 2019 targeted his home, killing his son and others. At the time, estimates suggested he was in Lebanon, where he also survived at least one assassination attempt.
A source in Islamic Jihad said contact with al-Ajouri had been lost since the start of the US-Israeli war against Iran, while another senior source said al-Ajouri had recently communicated electronically with some levels of the group, possibly through intermediaries, adding that “no one knows his location.”
Sources say al-Ajouri had been preparing to leave Lebanon shortly before the war on Iran, but several Arab and Islamic capitals refused to receive him despite efforts by al-Nakhalah. Some countries rejected him due to legal cases filed against him in local courts, while others declined for security reasons. Sources suggested he may be in Iran.
More than a week ago, Israel killed Adham al-Othman, a close associate of al-Ajouri, in a strike on a Hezbollah safe apartment in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
