Air strike in southern Beirut
Hezbollah confirms death of Commander Akil
21.09.2024, 00:41
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After the explosion of thousands of radio devices, Israel is not giving Hezbollah any peace. The militias confirm that a high-ranking commander was killed in Beirut this afternoon. Ibrahim Akil is on the US wanted list as an international terrorist.
The Lebanese Hezbollah militia has confirmed the killing of its high-ranking commander Ibrahim Akil by Israel. Akil, who led Hezbollah’s elite Radwan unit, was one of the “great leaders” and was killed “on the way to Jerusalem,” the pro-Iranian militia said, using the formula it uses for fighters killed by Israel. The Israeli army announced Akil’s killing in a “targeted” attack in southern Beirut in the afternoon.
According to the Israeli Air Force, ten other Hezbollah commanders were killed in the attack in addition to Akil. Hezbollah circles had previously reported Akil’s death. According to an anonymous source from security circles in Lebanon, the attack on Akil took place near the Al-Kaem Mosque in a Beirut suburb. Images published in online media and confirmed as authentic showed clouds of smoke over southern Beirut. According to the Lebanese government, at least twelve people were killed and 66 others injured in Israeli attacks in southern Beirut on Friday. Nine of the injured are in critical condition.
According to US sources, Akil was considered one of the “most important” members of the Iran-backed Hezbollah. According to the US State Department, the Hezbollah leader, also known as Tahsin, was a member of Hezbollah’s highest military body, the Jihad Council. According to the US Treasury Department, Akil also played a “central role” in the Radwan Unit’s operations in Syria, where the militia is fighting alongside ruler Bashar al-Assad.
USA put a bounty on his head
In 2019, Akil was classified as an “international terrorist” by the US State Department. Since last year, a bounty of up to seven million dollars (6.3 million euros) has been placed on his head, among other things because of his alleged involvement in the bombings of the US embassy in Beirut in April 1983, which left 63 people dead, and the US Marine Corps barracks in October 1983, which left 241 people dead. The US also holds Akil responsible for the brutal hostage-taking of Germans and US citizens in Lebanon in the 1980s.
In July, the Israeli army had already killed Hezbollah military chief Fuad Shukr in a targeted attack in the Lebanese capital. Before Shukr’s killing, Akil was considered the “second highest” military commander of the pro-Iranian militia.
Israel: Do not want an escalation of the conflict
After Akil’s killing, the Israeli army declared that it did not want the conflict to escalate. “We are not aiming for a broad escalation in the region,” military spokesman Daniel Hagari told journalists. “We are acting in accordance with the defined goals (of the war) and will continue to do so.” Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Joav Gallant wrote on the online service X that Israel’s “enemies” no longer had a “place of refuge.”
The Iranian embassy in Beirut condemned the attack in the capital’s suburb as “madness” on the online service X and declared that “Israeli arrogance” had “crossed all boundaries”. The Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas, which is supported by Iran and allied with Hezbollah, wrote in a statement of a “brutal and terrorist aggression”.