Jerusalem (AP/PTI): The Israeli military said on Sunday that it has killed another high-ranking Hezbollah official in an airstrike.
The military said Nabil Kaouk, the deputy head of Hezbollah's Central Council, was killed in an airstrike on Saturday. There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah.
Several senior Hezbollah commanders have been killed in Israeli strikes in recent weeks, including the group's overall leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in Beirut on Friday.
The group has also been targeted by a sophisticated attack on its pagers and walkie-talkies, and Israel has carried out waves of airstrikes over the past week across large parts of Lebanon. Hezbollah has continued to fire hundreds of rockets and missiles into northern Israel, but most have been intercepted or fallen in open areas.
Kaouk was a veteran member of Hezbollah going back to the 1980s and had previously served as Hezbollah's military commander in southern Lebanon. The United States had announced sanctions against him in 2020.
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Malegaon (Maharashtra), Nov 23: In a closely contested election, Mohammad Ismail Abdul Khalique of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) has retained the Malegaon Central assembly seat, winning by a razor-thin margin of 162 votes.
This victory in the north Maharashtra constituency marks a significant turnaround for Khalique, who previously enjoyed a commanding lead in the 2019 elections, winning by over one lakh votes.
Khalique, an Islamic scholar, received a total of 1,09,653 votes this time, narrowly defeating his nearest rival, Asif Shaikh Rasheed of the Indian Secular Largest Assembly of Maharashtra party, who got 1,09,491 votes.
There were a total of 13 candidates contesting in this Muslim dominated constituency. Barring Khalique and Rasheed, two other candidates -- Shaan-e-Hind Nihal Ahmed of Samajwadi Party and Ejaz Baig Aziz Baig managed below 10,000 votes. Other remaining candidates were below 1,000 votes.
This election marks Khalique's third term as an MLA. He initially represented the Malegaon Central seat in 2009 as a member of the Jan Surajya Shakti party.
However, Khalique faced a setback in the 2014 elections when he contested under the banner of the Nationalist Congress Party and lost.
His return to the assembly in 2019 under the AIMIM banner solidified his political presence, and despite the significantly reduced margin this year, he has once again emerged victorious.
The results highlight the competitive nature of the Malegaon Central constituency and underscore Khalique's resilience in maintaining his position amidst changing political dynamics.