“TARGETED STRIKE”
Lebanon’s Health Minister Firass Abiad said three children and seven women were killed in Friday’s strike on an underground meeting room in a densely populated neighbourhood of the capital’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold.
Israel said the “targeted strike” killed the head of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force, Ibrahim Aqil, and several other commanders.
A source close to Hezbollah said a total of 16 Radwan Force members were killed during a meeting.
The Radwan Force has spearheaded Hezbollah’s ground operations, and Israel has repeatedly demanded through international mediators that its fighters be pushed back from the border.
Confirming the death of Aqil, Hezbollah hailed him as “one of its great leaders”.
Washington had offered a S$7 million reward for information on Aqil, calling him a “principal member” of an organisation that claimed the 1983 Beirut US embassy bombing which killed 63.
“PENETRATE AND DISRUPT”
Hezbollah said a second senior commander, Ahmed Mahmud Wahbi, was also killed on Friday. He headed the group’s operations against Israel from the onset of the Gaza war in October until the start of this year, it said.
In July, another Israeli strike on Beirut killed Fuad Shukr, a top Hezbollah operations chief.
Friday’s strike also followed sabotage attacks on pagers and two-way radios used by Hezbollah on Tuesday and Wednesday, which killed 39 people. Hezbollah blamed Israel, which has not commented.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah acknowledged an “unprecedented” blow and vowed that Israel would face retribution for what he called a possible “act of war”.
Months of near-daily exchanges have killed hundreds in Lebanon, mostly fighters, and dozens in Israel and the annexed Golan, forcing tens of thousands on both sides to flee their homes.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday announced an expansion of the country’s war goals to include the return of northern Israeli residents.
“Our objectives are clear and our actions speak for themselves,” Netanyahu said Saturday on social media platform X.
International mediators, including the United States, have been scrambling to stop the Gaza war from becoming a regional conflict.
Netanyahu’s critics in Israel have accused the prime minister of dragging out the war. Thousands again gathered in Tel Aviv Saturday night demanding a deal to free captives still held by Hamas.
Shahar Mor, nephew of slain hostage Avraham Munder, said he feared the fight against Hezbollah would again distract leaders who “focus on the illusion of ‘absolute victory'”.
