Top Hezbollah commander among eight killed in latest Israeli attack on Lebanon | World news

The Israeli military said it carried out a “targeted attack,” while the Lebanese Health Ministry said eight people were killed and 59 others injured in the attack.

The source close to Hezbollah, who asked not to be identified to discuss sensitive issues, said the attack on the militant group's stronghold in southern Beirut killed the leader of its elite Radwan unit, Ibrahim Aqil.

The airstrike is the third on Beirut's southern suburbs since the war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7. The focus of violence has shifted dramatically from Gaza to Lebanon this week.

In attacks blamed on Israel, senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr and the leader of the allied Palestinian militant group Hamas, Saleh al-Aruri, were killed earlier this year.

“The Israeli airstrike killed Radwan Force commander Ibrahim Aqil, the force's second-in-command after Fuad Shukr,” the source close to Hezbollah said.

Hezbollah has not officially confirmed his death, but said after the attack that it had hit an Israeli intelligence base responsible for unspecified “assassinations.”

The United States had offered a $7 million reward for information about Aqil, describing him as a “leading member” of the organization that claimed responsibility for the 1983 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Beirut that killed 63 people.

Images posted on social media and verified by AFP showed smoke rising over southern Beirut on Friday.

– Explosions of communication devices –

Since Hamas triggered the war in the Gaza Strip with its attack on October 7, Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters have been engaged in fierce fighting along the Israeli-Lebanese border.

For nearly a year, Israel's firepower was concentrated on Gaza, but with Hamas severely weakened, the focus of the war has shifted dramatically to Israel's northern border.

In the months-long, almost daily border clashes, hundreds of people were killed in Lebanon, most of them fighters. Dozens were killed in Israel, and thousands on both sides were forced to flee their homes.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, Hezbollah was the target of an unprecedented attack for which it blamed Israel, although Israel has not yet commented on the matter.

The attack caused thousands of Hezbollah members' communications devices to explode over the course of two days. 37 people were killed and thousands more injured.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah announced on Thursday that Israel would face retaliation for the attacks.

Israel had previously said on Friday that Hezbollah had fired dozens of rockets from Lebanon after air strikes destroyed dozens of the militant group's launch pads.

Israel announced this week that it was shifting its war aims to its northern border with Lebanon.

In a speech to troops on Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said: “Hezbollah will pay a rising price” as Israel tries to ensure “the safe return” of its citizens to the border areas.

“We are at the beginning of a new phase of the war,” he said.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has postponed his planned departure to the United States to address the UN General Assembly by a day, with an official citing the situation on the northern front.

Hezbollah had previously said on Friday that it had attacked at least six Israeli military bases with rocket fire after the bombing during the night was one of the heaviest to date, according to residents in southern Lebanon.

– “Fear of a bigger war” –

Residents of Marjayoun, a Lebanese town near the border, said the night-time bombardment was one of the heaviest since border conflicts began last October.

“We were very scared, especially for my grandchildren,” said Nuha Abdo, 62. “We moved them from one room to another.”

Elie Rmeih, a 45-year-old clothing store owner, counted more than 50 strikes.

“It was a terrifying scene and unlike anything we have experienced since the escalation began.

“We live in fear of a bigger war. We don't know where to go.”

– Calls for restraint –

International mediators are desperately trying to prevent the Gaza war from escalating into a full-scale regional conflict.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, desperate to salvage efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and release the hostages, called on all sides to exercise restraint.

“We do not want to see escalating actions by any side” that would jeopardize the goal of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, he said.

The October 7 Hamas attacks that sparked the Gaza war left 1,205 Israelis dead, most of them civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures and including hostages killed in captivity.

Of the 251 hostages kidnapped by militants, 97 are still being held in Gaza, including 33 who the Israeli military says are dead.

At least 41,272 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in Israel's military retaliation offensive in Gaza, according to figures from the Health Ministry of the Hamas-controlled area. The United Nations has recognized the figures as reliable.

Drill/Ser/DCP

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