By Laila Bassam and Maayan Lubell
BEIRUT/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israel killed a prime Hezbollah commander and different senior figures within the Lebanese motion in an airstrike on Beirut on Friday, vowing to press on with a brand new navy marketing campaign till it is ready to safe the realm across the Lebanese border.
The Israeli navy and a safety supply in Lebanon stated Ibrahim Aqil had been killed with different senior members of an elite Hezbollah unit within the airstrike, sharply escalating the year-long battle between Israel and the Iran-backed group.
Hezbollah confirmed Aqil’s demise in a press release simply after midnight that referred to as him “one of its top leaders,” with out offering particulars of how he died.
In a later assertion summarising Aqil’s biography, Hezbollah stated he was killed in Beirut’s southern suburbs of Dahiyeh in what it referred to as a “treacherous Israeli assassination”.
Lebanon’s well being ministry stated at the very least 14 individuals died within the strike and the toll was anticipated to climb as rescue groups labored by the night time. It was not instantly identified whether or not the toll included Aqil and different Hezbollah commanders.
Earlier, the ministry stated at the very least 66 individuals had been injured, 9 of whom had been in vital situation.
A second safety supply stated at the very least six different Hezbollah commanders died when a number of missiles slammed into the opening of a constructing’s storage. The explosion tore into the constructing’s decrease ranges as Aqil met different commanders inside.
Witnesses reported listening to a loud whistling and a number of other consecutive blasts on the time of the strike.
In a quick assertion carried by Israeli media, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated Israel’s objectives had been clear and its actions spoke for themselves.
Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, who stated this week that Israel is launching a brand new section of warfare 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.”
Tens of hundreds of individuals have been evacuated from houses on either side of the Israel-Lebanon border since Hezbollah started rocketing Israel in October in sympathy with Palestinians within the practically year-old Israeli warfare in opposition to Hamas in Gaza.
Israel, which final fought an all-out warfare in opposition to Hezbollah 18 years in the past, has stated it can use power if vital to make sure its residents can return to northern Israel.
The Israeli navy described Aqil because the appearing commander of the Radwan particular forces unit, and stated it had killed him together with round 10 different senior commanders as they met. Aqil sat on Hezbollah’s prime navy council, sources in Lebanon informed Reuters.
The strike inflicted one other blow on Hezbollah after two days of assaults by which pagers and walkie-talkies utilized by its members exploded, killing 37 individuals and wounding hundreds. These assaults had been extensively believed to have been carried out by Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement.
Native broadcasters confirmed teams of individuals gathered close to the positioning, and reported they had been looking for lacking individuals, most of them youngsters. Drones had been nonetheless flying over Beirut’s southern suburbs hours after the strike.
“We are not afraid, but we want a solution. We cannot continue with the country like this,” stated Alain Feghali, a resident of Beirut who spoke to Reuters. “War? I don’t know if it started or not, but nothing is reassuring. It is clear that the two sides will not stop.”
The U.N. Particular Coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine-Hennis Plasschaert, stated Friday’s strike in a densely populated space of Beirut’s southern suburbs was a part of “an extremely dangerous cycle of violence with devastating consequences. This must stop now.”
The strike marked the second time in lower than two months that Israel has focused a number one Hezbollah navy commander in Beirut. In July, an Israeli airstrike killed Fuad Shukr, the group’s prime navy commander.
Aqil had a $7-million bounty on his head from the US over his hyperlink to the lethal bombing of Marines in Lebanon in 1983, in keeping with the U.S. State Division web site.
The Israeli navy stated Aqil had been head of Hezbollah operations since 2004 and was chargeable for a plan to launch a raid on northern Israel, much like the Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on Oct. 7 that triggered the warfare in Gaza.
“The Hezbollah commanders we eliminated today had been planning their ‘October 7th’ on the northern border for years,” Israeli military chief Basic Herzi Halevi stated.
“We reached them, and we will reach anyone who threatens the security of Israel’s citizens.”
RUBBLE AND BURNT-OUT CARS
The Israeli navy reported warning sirens in northern Israel following the Beirut strike, and Israeli media reported heavy rocket hearth there.
Hezbollah stated it twice fired Katyusha rockets at what it described as the principle intelligence headquarters in northern Israel “which is responsible for assassinations”.
White Home nationwide safety spokesperson John Kirby (NYSE:) stated he was not conscious of any Israeli notification to the US earlier than the Beirut strike, including Individuals had been strongly urged to not journey to Lebanon, or to depart in the event that they had been there.
Nonetheless he added that, “war is not inevitable … and we’re going to continue to do everything we can to try to prevent it.”
The present battle between Israel and Hezbollah, ignited by the Gaza warfare, has intensified considerably this week.
On Thursday night time, the Israeli navy carried out its most intensive airstrikes in southern Lebanon because the battle erupted virtually a 12 months in the past.
The battle between Israel and Hezbollah is the worst since they fought a warfare in 2006. Tens of hundreds of individuals have needed to depart houses on either side of the border.
Whereas the battle has largely been contained to areas at or close to the frontier, this week’s escalation has heightened issues that it may widen and additional intensify.
