Hezbollah yesterday said that a second senior commander was among 16 fighters killed in an Israeli airstrike on its Beirut stronghold the previous day, highlighting the scale of the blow to its military leadership.
Israel said Friday’s strike on the southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital killed the head of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force, Ibrahim Aqil, and several other commanders.
Coming hot on the heels of sabotage attacks on communications devices this week that killed 37 people in Hezbollah strongholds, the strike raised new questions about the Iran-backed group’s security arrangements and dealt a heavy blow to its fighters’ morale.
Photo: Reuters
Hezbollah named the second commander as Ahmed Mahmud Wahbi, saying he had headed the group’s operations against Israel from the onset of the Gaza war in October last year until the start of this year.
Confirming the death of Aqil, who was wanted by the US for involvement in the 1983 bombing of the US embassy in Beirut, Hezbollah hailed him as “one of its great leaders.”
Agence France-Presse journalists said Friday’s strike left a massive crater and gutted the lower floors of a high-rise building.
It was the second Israeli strike on the Hezbollah military leadership since the start of the Gaza war. An Israeli strike on Beirut in July killed Fuad Shukr, a top operations chief for the movement.
It also followed sabotage attacks on pagers and two-way radios used by Hezbollah on Tuesday and Wednesday, which killed 37 people and raised fears of a wider war.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said the world body was “very concerned about the heightened escalation” and called for “maximum restraint” from all sides.
The Israeli military said it conducted a “targeted strike” against Aqil, which a source close to Hezbollah said killed 16 Radwan Force members.
Aqil was “at a meeting with commanders” when he was killed, the source said.
The US had offered a US$7 million reward for information on Aqil, describing him as a “principal member” of an organization that claimed the 1983 bombing that killed 63 people.
At least 31 people were killed, including three children and seven women, in Friday’s strike, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health told a news conference yesterday.
Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters have battled each other along the Israel-Lebanon border since Hamas militants triggered the war in Gaza with their attack on Oct. 7 last year.
The focus of Israel’s firepower for nearly a year has been on Gaza, but with Hamas much weakened, that focus has moved to Israel’s northern border.
Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant said Israel’s “enemies” would find no refuge, not even in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
After the strike, Israeli army spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said that Israel was “not aiming for a broad escalation in the region.”
Hamas called it a “brutal and terrorist aggression” and an “escalation.”
Additional reporting by Reuters
Seven people sustained mostly minor injuries in an airplane fire in South Korea, authorities said yesterday, with local media suggesting the blaze might have been caused by a portable battery stored in the overhead bin. The Air Busan plane, an Airbus A321, was set to fly to Hong Kong from Gimhae International Airport in southeastern Busan, but caught fire in the rear section on Tuesday night, the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. A total of 169 passengers and seven flight attendants and staff were evacuated down inflatable slides, it said. Authorities initially reported three injuries, but revised the number
‘BALD-FACED LIE’: The woman is accused of administering non-prescribed drugs to the one-year-old and filmed the toddler’s distress to solicit donations online A social media influencer accused of filming the torture of her baby to gain money allegedly manufactured symptoms causing the toddler to have brain surgery, a magistrate has heard. The 34-year-old Queensland woman is charged with torturing an infant and posting videos of the little girl online to build a social media following and solicit donations. A decision on her bail application in a Brisbane court was yesterday postponed after the magistrate opted to take more time before making a decision in an effort “not to be overwhelmed” by the nature of allegations “so offensive to right-thinking people.” The Sunshine Coast woman —
BORDER SERVICES: With the US-funded International Rescue Committee telling clinics to shut by tomorrow, Burmese refugees face sudden discharge from Thai hospitals Healthcare centers serving tens of thousands of refugees on the Thai-Myanmar border have been ordered shut after US President Donald Trump froze most foreign aid last week, forcing Thai officials to transport the sickest patients to other facilities. The International Rescue Committee (IRC), which funds the clinics with US support, told the facilities to shut by tomorrow, a local official and two camp committee members said. The IRC did not respond to a request for comment. Trump last week paused development assistance from the US Agency for International Development for 90 days to assess compatibility with his “America First” policy. The freeze has thrown
TESTING BAN: Satellite photos show a facility in the Chinese city of Mianyang that could aid nuclear weapons design and power generation, a US researcher said China appears to be building a large laser-ignited fusion research center in the southwestern city of Mianyang, experts at two analytical organizations said, a development that could aid nuclear weapons design and work exploring power generation. Satellite photos show four outlying “arms” that would house laser bays, and a central experiment bay that would hold a target chamber containing hydrogen isotopes the powerful lasers would fuse together, producing energy, said Decker Eveleth, a researcher at US-based independent research organization CNA Corp. It is a similar layout to the US$3.5 billion US National Ignition Facility (NIF) in northern California, which in 2022 generated
RSS