And announced Israeli army He launched a rare airstrike that killed a senior Hezbollah military official in a densely populated neighborhood in southern Beirut Friday.
This attack was the deadliest of its kind on the capital. Lebanon Years ago, at least 14 others were reported killed in the attack.
Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said the strike on the southern suburb of Beirut targeted and killed Ibrahim Aqilforce commander Al-Radwan It is one of the elite forces affiliated with For Hezbollahin addition to 10 Hezbollah members.
“The attack in Lebanon is to protect Israel,” Hagari said in a press conference following the strike, describing Akil as one of the Hezbollah militants responsible for the regular rocket fire on Israel.
The Israeli military did not disclose the identities of the other leaders it claimed were killed in the strike in the densely populated area.
Lebanese health officials said at least 14 people were killed and 66 others injured there, with nine of the wounded in critical condition.
Aqil served on Hezbollah’s top military body, the Jihad Council, and was sanctioned by the United States for his involvement in two 1983 terrorist attacks that killed more than 300 people at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut and a U.S. Marine barracks.
Earlier on Friday, Hezbollah bombarded northern Israel with 140 rockets as the region awaited the revenge promised by Hezbollah’s leader. Hassan Nasrallahin response to this week’s mass bombing of Hezbollah members’ pagers and walkie-talkies.
The strike – apparently the deadliest of its kind on a Beirut neighborhood since Israel and Hezbollah fought a bloody month-long war in 2006 – marked a major escalation in the past 11 months of cross-border attacks.
Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged fire regularly since the attack. agitation On October 7, Israel launched a devastating Israeli military attack on Gaza.
But while the cross-border attacks have raised fears of a full-scale regional war, they have largely hit evacuated communities in northern Israel and less populated parts of South Lebanon.
It is worth noting that the last time Israel struck Beirut in an air strike was in July, which resulted in the killing of a senior Hezbollah commander. Fouad Shukr.