According to the US state department, Aqil was a “principal member” of the Islamic Jihad Organization (IJU), a Lebanese Shia militia known for its activities in the 1980s during the Lebanese Civil War.
The terror group claimed responsibility for bombings the US Embassy in Beirut on April 18, 1983. Among the 63 killed were eight CIA officers, making it the single greatest loss of lives in the agency’s history.
Six months later, the IJU carried out a second suicide bombing on the US Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, killing 241 American personnel. Seconds later, a second bomber killed 58 French paratroopers and six Lebanese civilians.
Washington accused Aqil of helping to mastermind both attacks, along with the abduction of American and German hostages in Lebanon.
It listed him as a specially designated global terrorist in 2019, placing the $7 million bounty on his head.
Born in a village in Lebanon’s Beqaa valley sometime around 1960, Aqil joined Amal, another big Lebanese Shi’ite political movement, before switching to Hezbollah as a founding member.