- Israel killed Ibrahim Aqil, the commander of Hezbollah’s Radwan
Force, in a strike on Beirut, which also resulted in 14 deaths and dozens of
injuries. - Aqil was wanted by the US for his involvement in the 1983
bombing of the US embassy in Beirut. - The strike on Aqil follows a series of explosions
targeting Hezbollah communication devices, which Hezbollah blamed on Israel.
Israel said Friday that it killed the commander of
Hezbollah’s elite unit in a strike that Lebanese officials said left 14 dead
and dozens wounded in the movement’s Beirut stronghold.
Ibrahim Aqil, who was wanted by the United States for
involvement in the 1983 bombing of the US embassy in Beirut, headed the
Iran-backed militant group’s elite Radwan Force.
Hezbollah confirmed late Friday that Aqil had been killed by
Israeli fire, hailing him as “one of its great leaders”.
AFP journalists at the scene said the blast left a massive
crater and gutted the lower floors of a high-rise building in the Lebanese
capital’s southern suburbs.
Rescue workers were still using heavy equipment to search
the rubble hours after the strike, AFPTV footage showed.
Aqil’s killing was the second of a senior Hezbollah
commander since the start of the war in Gaza. An Israeli strike on Beirut in
July killed Fuad Shukr, a top operations chief for the movement.
It also followed two waves of explosions, on Tuesday and
Wednesday, of communication devices used by Hezbollah members, which Hezbollah
blamed on Israel.
Those blasts killed dozens and left Hezbollah reeling while
shifting the focus of the Israel-Hamas war northward.
Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General
Antonio Guterres, said the 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 also killed around 10 other senior Radwan
commanders.
FOLLOW IT LIVE | DEVELOPING | Israel strike kills top Hezbollah commanders during a meeting
A source close to Hezbollah said Aqil was “at a meeting
with commanders” when he was killed.
Lebanon’s health ministry said that the attack killed at
least 14 people and wounded 66 more, and that it expected more bodies to be
found.
The United States had offered a $7 million reward for
information on Aqil, describing him as a “principal member” of an
organisation that claimed the 1983 embassy bombing, which killed 63 people.
This undated image obtained from the US State Department shows a “Wanted Poster” for Hezbollah Radwan Force commander Ibrahim Aqil. A source close to Hezbollah told AFP that an Israeli air strike on 20 September 2024, killed Aqil, while the Israeli military said it conducted “a targeted strike” on the Lebanese capital. (Handout / US State Department / AFP)
Spearhead
Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters have battled each
other along the Israel-Lebanon border since Hamas militants triggered the war
in Gaza with their 7 October attack.
The focus of Israel’s firepower for nearly a year has been
on Gaza, but with Hamas much weakened, the focus of the war has moved to
Israel’s northern border.
Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said the countries’
“enemies” would find no refuge, “not even the Dahieh in
Beirut,” a reference to the city’s southern suburbs.
An Israeli military spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel
Hagari, said after the strike that Israel was “not aiming for a broad
escalation in the region”.
But Hamas called it a “brutal and terrorist
aggression” and an “escalation”.
Iran’s foreign ministry accused Israel of seeking to
“broaden the geography of the war”.
Months of near-daily border clashes have killed hundreds in
Lebanon, most of them fighters, and dozens in Israel, forcing tens of thousands
on both sides to flee their homes.
The latest blow to Hezbollah came after thousands of
Hezbollah operatives’ pagers and walkie-talkies exploded over two days, killing
37 people and wounding thousands more.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah vowed on Thursday that
Israel would face retribution for those blasts.
Earlier Friday, Israel said Hezbollah had fired dozens of
rockets from Lebanon following airstrikes that destroyed dozens of the militant
group’s launchers.
Speaking to troops on Wednesday, Gallant said
“Hezbollah will pay an increasing price” as Israel tries to
“ensure the safe return” of its citizens to border areas.
“We are at the start of a new phase in the war,”
he said.
Aqil’s Radwan Force spearheaded Hezbollah’s ground
operations and Israel has repeatedly demanded through international mediators
that its fighters be pushed away from the border.
‘Fear of wider war’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delayed by a day
his scheduled departure to the United States, where he is due to address the
United Nations General Assembly.
On Friday the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights,
Volker Turk, told the Security Council that the attack on Hezbollah
communications devices violated international law and could constitute a war
crime.
The pagers and walkie-talkies exploded as their users were
shopping in supermarkets, walking on streets and attending funerals, plunging
the country into panic.
“I am appalled by the breadth and impact of the
attacks,” said Turk, adding that it “is a war crime to commit
violence intended to spread terror among civilians”.
Earlier Friday, Hezbollah said it targeted at least six
Israeli military bases with salvos of rockets after bombardments that people in
south Lebanon described as among the fiercest so far.
Residents of Marjayoun, a Lebanese town close to the border,
said the overnight bombardment was among the heaviest since the border clashes
began last October.
“We were very scared, especially for my
grandchildren,” said Nuha Abdo, 62. “We were moving them from one
room to another.”
Clothing store owner Elie Rmeih, 45, counted more than 50
strikes.
“It was a terrifying scene and unlike anything we have
experienced since the escalation began,” he said. “We live in fear of
a wider war.”
International mediators, including the United States, have
been scrambling to stop the Gaza war from turning into an all-out regional
conflict.
Hamas’s 7 October attacks that sparked the Gaza war resulted
in the deaths of 1 205 people, mostly civilians, on the Israeli side, according
to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures that include hostages killed
in captivity.
Out of 251 hostages seized by militants, 97 are still held
in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least
41 272 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures provided by
the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The United Nations has acknowledged
the figures as reliable.
