Israel-Lebanon latest: Death toll rises to 31 after top Hezbollah commander killed in Beirut airstrike
It comes as footage emerged showing Israeli soldiers throwing bodies of three dead Palestinians off a rooftop
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At least 31 people including a top Hezbollah commander have been killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Lebanese capital of Beirut.
Ibrahim Aqil, Hezbollah’s operations commander, was killed in the strike on a block of apartments in the city’s southern suburbs on Friday afternoon. Lebanon said 68 people were also injured in the attack.
It came after Hezbollah, which has been engaged in near daily skirmishes with Israel since the Gaza war began, fired 140-150 rockets into Israel earlier in the day.
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.
Meanwhile, Hamas warned Israel would ‘pay a price’ and described the killing of Aqil as a “crime” and “folly”. The group is part of Iran’s so called axis of resistance.
The assassination followed a series of suspected Israeli attacks earlier in the week that blew up Hezbollah’s radio and pager devices, killing 37 people and wounding at least 3,000 others.
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UN spokesperson say they are ‘very concerned’ about Beirut airstrike
The UN said it was “very concerned” after Israeli airstrikes hit the Lebanese capital Beirut on Friday, killing at least 12 people and wounding dozens.
A statement from Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN secretary general António Guterres, reads: “We are, of course, very concerned about the heightened escalation... including the deadly strikes we saw in Beirut today.
“We urge all parties to deescalate immediately. All must exercise maximum restraint.”
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.
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