The Israel Defence Forces on Friday carried out a “targeted” strike in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, killing at least eight people and leaving nearly 60 others injured, Lebanese health officials said.
The Israeli military later claimed that it killed senior Hezbollah military commander Ibrahim Aqil in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
“Ibrahim Aqil, the Head of Hezbollah’s Operations Unit and the Commander of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Forces, was eliminated in a targeted intelligence-based strike in Beirut earlier today,” IDF stated in a post on X.
Israel also claimed that senior operatives in Hezbollah’s Operations Staff and commanders from the Radwan Unit were also eliminated alongside Aqil during the attack. It alleged that Aqil and the Radwan commanders, who were eliminated today, were planning Hezbollah’s ‘Conquer the Galilee’ attack plan.
As part of this attack plan, Hezbollah intended to “infiltrate Israeli communities and kidnap and murder innocent civilians in a similar manner to the October 7 Massacre”
The strike hit Beirut’s crowded southern suburbs as people were headed home from work and children left school. The ‘tageted strike’ was aimed at eliminating the senior Hezbollah military official Aqil, Associated Press reported.
Two residential buildings were reduced to rubble in the strike, which is reportedly the first such Israeli attack on Beirut in months. The main street in Dahiyeh, situated a few kilometres from Beirut’s downtown where Hezbollah holds sway was also ravaged completely.
An official cloe to the Iran-backed millitant group Hezbollah told AP that Akil was supposed to be in the building when it was struck.
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Videos and images after the stroke showed massive destruction ata street with high-rise apartment buildings. Thick smoke blanketed the area as debris scattered around and several cars demolished, CNN reported.
This is the third Israeli strike on Beirut in nearly a year since the conflict began last October. Previusly, Hezbollah’s senior military official Fuad Shukr was killed in Beirut in July.
Earlier today, Hezbollah had also launched 140 rockets into northern Israel, a day after its chief Hassan nasrallah vowed to revenge for this week’s mass bombing through pagers and wakie-talkies.
Hezbollah said that the attacks targeted several Israeli military sites along the ravaged borded with Lebanon with Katyusha rockets. Multiple air defence bases and the headquarters of an Israeli armoured brigade was also attacked.
Who Is Ibrahim Aqil?
Ibrahim Aqil was a senior Hezbollah military figure. He was the head of special operations and one of the most senior military commanders in the militant group, CNN reported.
He has also served as the head of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force and Jihad Council, the group’s highest military body.
The U.S. State Department has sanctioned Aqil for his alleged role in carrying out the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut and offered a $7 million bounty for Aqil. 63 people were killed in this embassy strike.
He was accused of being a part of Hezbollah bombing of the Beirut Marine barracks, which claimed 241 lives of US personnel in 1983.
US also blamed him for directing the taking of American and German hostages in Lebanon during the 1980s, AP reported.