Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah will be giving a rare public address next week to react to an Israeli air raid that killed six of his fighters in Syria, including two senior commanders, Hezbollah said Thursday.

Nasrallah, who rarely appears in public for fear of assassination by Israel, “will speak on Friday, January 30 to commemorate the martyrs of Quneitra”, the group’s Al-Manar TV channel said.

It added that the comments would be at a “public ceremony”, without giving a venue or timing.

Israel’s January 18 air raid on Quneitra in the Syrian-controlled sector of the Golan Heights killed six Hezbollah terrorists, including Mohamed Issa, a commander of the group’s Syria and Iran operations, and Jihad Mughniyeh, son of assassinated former commander Imad Mughniyeh.

Iran has also that a member of its elite Revolutionary Guards, General Mohamed Ali Allahdadi, died in the attack.

According to other sources, as many as six Iranians were killed, but neither Tehran nor Hezbollah has confirmed that toll.  

Tensions have been running high since the raid, with questions still remaining as to what the high-level Hezbollah-Iranian entourage were doing at the site so close to the Israeli border at the time, and whether Israel actually knew who was present.

Al-Manar said the group was targeted as it carried out “field reconnaissance” in Syria, where Hezbollah and Iranian forces are fighting alongside President Bashar al-Assad’s regime against a Sunni uprising.

But just one day after the strike, an unnamed senior Israeli official claimed the IDF had thought the group were a cell of low-level Hezbollah operatives on their way to launch an attack against Israeli forces at the border, and that they had no clue such high level figures were present.

There has been widespread skepticism over that claim, however, although Israel has officially refused to respond to the reports, as it has done on previous occasions.

Earlier Thursday, a Kuwaiti newspaper claimed Israeli intelligence services had indeed specifically targeted Iranian Revolutionary Guard General Mohammad Ali Allahdadi, pinpointing him by monitoring his phone calls. According to that report, the elimination of Mughniyeh – who was one of Nasrallah’s personal bodyguards – and Issa were just a bonus for Israel.

The raid came just days after Nasrallah threatened to retaliate against Israel for its repeated strikes on targets in Syria, which have intercepted numerous sophisticated weapons systems destined for Hezbollah. 

AFP contributed to this report.