Last year, to mark the 40th anniversary of Hezbollah's bombing of the US Embassy in Beirut in 1983, the US State Department announced a reward of up to $7 million for information on Aqil, a key leader of the militant group.

The US has accused Aqil of involvement in the 1983 embassy strike, which killed 63 people, as well as the Hezbollah bombing of the Beirut Marine barracks, which killed 241 US personnel later that year.

Rewards for Justice, a State Department body that offers rewards for information on terrorists, claims Aqil serves on the Jihad Council, Hezbollah's highest military body.

In the 1980s, he was a member of Islamic Jihad, the militant group that claimed the two 1983 attacks.