An Israeli airstrike on Beirut killed the head of Hezbollah’s special forces and 15 other terror commanders, leaving 37 dead, including three children.
The US responded positively to the confirmation of Ibrahim Aqil’s death, saying “no one sheds a tear” for the terror group’s second-in-command and leader of special forces in Radwan.
Hezbollah retaliated yesterday by firing up to 100 rockets into Israeli territory. The Iran-backed organization also named another senior commander among the victims of Friday’s attack. Ahmed Mahmud Wahbi led operations against Israel from the start of the Gaza war in October last year until the beginning of this year.
The airstrike has “almost completely dismantled” the group’s military chain of command, the Israeli military claimed last night, releasing a stark graphic showing how it has killed six of Hezbollah’s eight most senior commanders this year.
The terror group identified a total of 16 senior commanders killed in Friday’s attack,
According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, the death toll has risen to 37, including seven women and three children.
The US greeted confirmation of the death of Ibrahim Aqil (pictured) by saying “no one sheds a tear” for the terror group’s second-in-command and leader of special forces in Radwan
Israeli fighter jets targeted a multi-story building in a southern Beirut suburb where Aqil was holding a meeting with his senior lieutenants. Two apartment blocks in the heart of Dahiyeh, a densely populated Hezbollah stronghold, were leveled in the attack
The head of Hezbollah’s special forces and 15 other terror commanders were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut, killing 37 people, including three children.
Israeli fighter jets targeted a multi-story building in a southern Beirut suburb where Aqil was holding a meeting with his senior lieutenants. Two apartment blocks in the heart of Dahiyeh, a densely populated Hezbollah stronghold, were leveled in the attack.
An Israeli military statement said Aqil, who was in his early 60s, was killed along with other Radwan commanders during a meeting in an underground bunker.
The career terrorist and confidant of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah had a £5 million bounty on his head for his role in the 1983 bombing of the US embassy in Beirut, which killed 63 people.
He was also involved in the two bombings of US Marine barracks in Lebanon that same year, which killed 241 US servicemen and a total of 307 people.
US Middle East Czar Brett McGurk said the following at the Israeli-American Council conference in Washington: “Ibrahim Aqil was responsible for the embassy bombing in Beirut 40 years ago, so no one sheds a tear for him.”
Ahmed Mahmud Wahbi was described as a commander who played a key role within the group for decades and was imprisoned in an Israeli prison in 1984.
Hezbollah members killed in Israeli strikes The airstrike has “almost completely dismantled” the group’s military command structure, the Israeli military claimed last night
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike on the outskirts of the southern Lebanese village of Zawtar. Hezbollah responded yesterday by firing up to 100 rockets into Israeli territory.
Hezbollah said he was one of the commanders in an ambush in southern Lebanon in 1997 that killed 12 Israeli soldiers.
The group later announced that replacements Ali Karaki and Talal Hamia would take command of operations after the killings of Aqil and Wahbi.
Friday’s strike was a new blow to Hezbollah, following two days of attacks last week in which its members’ pagers and walkie-talkies exploded.
The attacks were widely believed to have been carried out by Israel. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement.