BEIRUT/JERUSALEM: Israel killed a top Hezbollah commander and other senior figures in the Lebanese movement in an airstrike on Beirut on Friday (Sep 20), vowing to press on with a new military campaign until it is able to secure the area around the Lebanese border.
Hezbollah confirmed in the early hours of Saturday that its top military commander Ibrahim Aqil was killed, calling him “one of its top leaders”, without providing further details on his killing.
The Israeli military and a security source in Lebanon said Ibrahim Aqil was killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut earlier on Friday, along with other senior members of an elite Hezbollah unit in the airstrike, sharply escalating the year-long conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed group.
Aqil, who was wanted by the United States for involvement in the 1983 bombing of the US embassy in Beirut, headed Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force.
Lebanon’s health ministry said at least 14 people died and the toll was expected to climb as rescue teams worked through the night. It was not immediately known whether the toll included Aqil and the other senior Hezbollah commanders.
Earlier, the military said at least 66 people were injured, nine of whom were in critical condition.
A second security source said the attack was carried out with multiple missiles that blasted into the opening of a building’s garage. The explosion tore into the building’s lower levels as Aqil met other top commanders inside.
Witnesses reported hearing a loud whistling and several consecutive blasts at the time of the strike.
In a brief statement carried by Israeli media, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s goals were clear and its actions spoke for themselves.
Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, who has said this week that Israel is launching a new phase of war on the northern border, posted on X: “The sequence of actions in the new phase will continue until our goal is achieved: the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes.”
