Hezbollah figure Ibrahim Aqil killed in Israeli strike in Beirut

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Hezbollah operations commander Ibrahim Aqil was killed in a “targeted” Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs on Friday, two security sources told Reuters.

According to one of the sources, Ibrahim Aqil, also known as Tahsin, was killed alongside members of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan unit while they were holding a meeting.

Ibrahim Aqil belonged to Hezbollah’s highest military authority, the Jihad Council.

The IDF reported in a statement a “targeted strike” on the Lebanese capital, without giving further details. The bombing took place near Hezbollah infrastructure in the southern suburbs of Beirut, according to the two security sources.

According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, the bombing left at least three dead. The television channel of the Lebanese Shiite movement, Al Manar, had previously given a provisional toll of one dead and 14 injured.

“The Israel Defense Forces conducted a targeted strike on Beirut. At this stage, there is no change in the Home Front Command’s defensive instructions,” the Israeli army said in a statement.

Hezbollah had previously announced that it had bombed Israeli positions in seven separate attacks at Katyusha.

Israeli state television (KAN) reported that about 150 rockets were fired at Israeli territory from Lebanon. Israeli emergency services did not immediately report any casualties.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Thursday that Israel had crossed “all red lines” by carrying out attacks using booby-trapped communications devices in recent days in Lebanon.

Israel, which has not claimed responsibility for the explosions of beepers and walkie-talkies that left 37 dead and some 3,000 injured, has for its part promised to continue its military operations against the pro-Iranian Shiite movement as part of a new military phase involving “opportunities” but also “significant risks”, according to the terms of its Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant.

In a televised speech, Hassan Nasrallah acknowledged that his organization, founded in 1982, had suffered “without a doubt” a very hard blow and “unprecedented in the history of the resistance in Lebanon” with the explosions, in two waves on Tuesday and Wednesday, of thousands of communication devices used by its members.

He assured that Israel would not achieve its new objective on the northern border through military escalation or open war. Only stopping the war in the Gaza Strip would allow a return to calm, he said.

(Reporting by Maayan Lubell and Tom Perry; editing by Zhifan Liu; French version by Sophie Louet and Diana Mandiá)