Israel-Lebanon latest: ‘At least 37 killed’ in Beirut by Israeli strike which left Hezbollah leader dead
It comes as 22, including children, were reportedly killed in a strike on a Gaza school
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At least 37 people were killed by an Israeli strike in a densely populated area of Beirut on Friday, Lebanese authorities now say.
Israel says two Hezbollah leaders were among the dead, including Ibrahim Aqil, Hezbollah’s operations commander, and Ahmed Wahbi, a senior commander.
According to Lebanon, women and children were killed in the strike, which also left 68 people injured, Lebanon said.
Aqil was involved in Hezbollah’s bombing of the US embassy in Beirut which killed 63 people in April 1983, according to the US State Department.
On Saturday in Gaza, dozens of people including children were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a school, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
At least 22 people, including 13 children and six women, were killed in the attack while using the building as a shelter, the ministry added.
The Israeli military said it targeted a Hamas command centre embedded in the building previously used as a school.
Footage from the site showed blasted walls, wrecked and burnt furniture, and holes in the ceiling of one room. Witnesses said children were in the playground.
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Lebanese financier pleads guilty to sanctions evasion, US says
A Lebanese-Belgian dual citizen accused by the United States of financing the armed group Hezbollah pleaded guilty on Friday in a criminal case charging him with sanctions evasion and money-laundering conspiracies, the Justice Department said.
Lawyers for Mohammad Bazzi told federal prosecutors in Brooklyn this month that he wanted to change his plea.
Bazzi, 60, pleaded not guilty last year to three felony counts, including attempting to transact with a sanctioned terrorist organization.
Israeli military have not yet elaborated on identities of other commanders
The Israeli military’s chief spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said the strike on Beirut’s southern Dahiya district targeted and killed Ibrahim Akil, a commander of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force, as well as 10 other Hezbollah operatives.
There was no immediate confirmation of Akil’s death from Hezbollah.The Israeli military did not elaborate on the identities of the other commanders allegedly killed in the strike on the crowded urban neighborhood.
Lebanese health officials said at least 12 people were killed and 66 others were wounded there. Nine of the wounded, they said, were in serious condition.
A Hezbollah official confirmed that Akil was supposed to be in the building that was hit but gave no further information. Akil has served on Hezbollah’s highest military body, the Jihad Council, and has been sanctioned by the United States for being involved in two terrorist attacks in 1983 that killed more than 300 people.
Israel’s defence minister says ‘new phase’ of war will continue
Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Friday that Israel would continue its new phase of war following the assassination of senior Hezbollah commanders in Beirut.
“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,” he said in a statement on the social media platform X.
Top Hezbollah commander killed in Beirut airstrike, Israeli military says – fuelling fear of all-out war
Israel says it has killed a top Hezbollah commander in a strike on Beirut, fuelling fears of an all-out war on the Israeli-Lebanon border.
Israeli military said that Ibrahim Aqi Aqil, who served on Hezbollah’s top military body, was the acting commander of the group’s elite Radwan force and that he was killed along with around 10 other senior commanders of the unit.
The strike killed nine people and wounded 59 others, Lebanon’s health ministry said, in a preliminary toll – with the blast destroying multiple residential apartments.
Read the full article here:
Top Hezbollah commander killed in Beirut airstrike, Israeli military says
Ibrahim Aqil – wanted by US for alleged role in 1983 US embassy bombings – targeted in Lebanon’s capital
Death toll rises to 12 in Beirut strike
The number of people killed in the Beirut strike has risen to 12, Lebanon’s health ministry have said.
There are now 66 people injured, nine of whom are in critical condition, it adds.
The IDF says it killed several senior Hezbollah figures, including top commander Ibrahim Aqil.
Biden says ‘we have to keep at it’ over Israeli ceasefire deal
Reaching a Gaza ceasefire deal is still realistic, US President Joe Biden said at the White House on Friday, telling reporters: “We have to keep at it.”
Asked about the impact of fighting elsewhere in the region, Biden also said: “We have to make sure that the people of northern Israel as well as southern Lebanon are able to get back to their homes, and get back safely.”
Israeli military say 10 other senior Hezbollah commanders killed
About 10 senior Hezbollah commanders were killed along with Ibrahim Aqil, the Israeli military have said.
The leader of the movement’s Radwan special forces unit was attacked in an Israeli air strike in Beirut on Friday.
“This elimination is intended to protect the citizens of Israel,” he said in a brief statement to the press, adding that Israel was not seeking regional escalation.
Iran’s embassy in Lebanese condemns Israeli ‘madness’
The Iranian embassy in Lebanon condemned Israel’s attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs on Friday as “Israeli madness that crossed all lines” by targeting residential buildings, it said in a post on X.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said the strike shows Israel “gives no weight to any humanitarian, legal or moral considerations”.
IDF say they have killed senior Hezbollah commander
The Israeli military has said it killed senior Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil.
“The IDF eliminated Ibrahim Aqil, head of Hezbollah’s operations system and the actual commander of the Radwan Force and the leader of Hezbollah’s plan to occupy the Galilee,” the military said in a statement.
Americans strongly urged to leave Lebanon
Americans have been strongly urged to leave Lebanon after attacks were launched at it’s capital of Beirut, a White House national security spokesman has said.
John Kirby said Americans have also been told not to travel to the country.
Speaking to reporters, he reiterated that the Biden administration was trying to avoid an escalation in the region, and
He said he was not aware of any Israel notification to the US before its strike in Beirut earlier today.
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