In the 1980s, Aqil was a senior member in the
Islamic Jihad Organization, a group affiliated with Hezbollah. On 4 February 2000, during the
South Lebanon conflict, Israeli
AH-64 Apache helicopters fired
AGM-114 Hellfire missiles at Aqil's car in the village of
Barish, where he was serving as Hezbollah's commander of the South Lebanon sector (or the western sector in South Lebanon). The first missile struck the rear of the car and threw him out. He escaped and hid behind a building. The second missile destroyed the car. After being spotted hiding, another missile was fired at him and hit the wall. Aqil was lightly injured and managed to escape the incident. Five civilians, including an infant, were also injured. During the
2006 Lebanon War, Aqil was responsible for coordinating intelligence between Hezbollah and the
Syrian Army. A month later, in September 2006, while serving as the head of Hezbollah's security and intelligence services, the "
Intelligence Online" reported that Aqil was one of three Hezbollah operatives, along with
Hassan Nasrallah and
Mustafa Badreddine, who visited
North Korea for several months during the 1980s and early 1990s for training. On 21 July 2015, the
U.S. Department of the Treasury designated Aqil as closely tied to Hezbollah's leadership and acting on its behalf, along with other senior figures in the organization—Mustafa Badreddine,
Fuad Shukr, and Abd al-Nur Shalaan. In May 2016, following the assassination of
Mustafa Badreddine, Aqil was one of two candidates (alongside
Fuad Shukr) considered to succeed him as Hezbollah's defence minister (though others identified Fuad Shukr in this role). He also led Hezbollah's tunnel project in Lebanon. In the event of an Israeli invasion of Lebanon, Aqil's unit had planned to conduct a counter-operation, similar to the
October 7 attacks, in northern Israel. The unit would also be involved in defending southern Lebanon from an Israeli invasion. ==Assassination==