On the night between March 11 and 12, Ali Maslam Tabaja (commander of the “Imam Hussein Division”), his deputy Jihad al-Safira, and the person responsible for the UAVs (drones), Sajid al-Handasa (or Sajjad al-Handasa), were eliminated in Lebanon. The “Imam Hussein Division” was established in cooperation with the Quds Force and Hezbollah as a Shiite militia and originally operated in Syria. Its command ranks and some of its operatives were borrowed from Hezbollah. Already at the beginning of the war, in October 2023, some of its Lebanese operatives were transferred back to Lebanon to reinforce Hezbollah, and to our understanding, they operated as an organic force within Hezbollah. With the fall of the Assad regime, all of its Lebanese operatives were returned to Lebanon into the ranks of Hezbollah, and the remaining non-Lebanese operatives apparently returned to their places of origin (mainly Syrians and Iraqis, as well as Afghans, Pakistanis, Yemenis, and Sudanese). The Lebanese operatives of the “Imam Hussein” continued to function as an organic force within Hezbollah. The previous commander of the “Imam Hussein”, Dhu al-Fiqar (or Dhu al-Faqar) Hanawi (also spelled Hinawi/Hanawi), was eliminated in 2024. In addition, several other operatives were eliminated. In March 2024, three Hezbollah operatives belonging to the “Imam Hussein” were eliminated in the Ras Bayada area, north of Naqoura. In September 2025, another operative was eliminated.
