BREAKING: Israel says its strike on Beirut killed a top Hezbollah military official, and multiple others

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From the Associated Press: BEIRUT (AP) — Israel launched a rare airstrike that killed a senior Hezbollah military official in a densely populated southern Beirut neighborhood on Friday, the Israeli army said. It was the deadliest such attack on Lebanon’s capital in years, with Lebanese health authorities reporting at least 12 people killed and dozens more wounded in the attack.

The Israeli military’s chief spokesman, Rear Adm. 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.

Hezbollah did not immediately confirm the claim of Akil’s killing, which came as a flurry of tit-for-tat bombardments between the enemies raised fears of a full-out war erupting in the Middle East.

The Israeli military did not elaborate on the identities of the other commanders allegedly killed in the strike on the crowded urban neighborhood. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said at least 12 people were killed and 66 others were wounded.

The report explains that Akil, who has served on Hezbollah’s highest military body, the Jihad Council, has been sanctioned by the United States for his involvement in two terrorist attacks in 1983 that killed more than 300 people at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut and the U.S. Marine Corps barracks.

The airstrike on Friday reportedly hit during rush hour, as people were leaving work and children heading home from school. A Hezbollah official confirmed that Akil was supposed to be in the building that was hit, the AP wrote.

Hezbollah had blasted northern Israel with 140 rockets earlier on Friday, believed to be part of the retaliation for the pager attacks on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Axios reported that the airstrike took out multiple terrorist leaders.

  • An Israeli official said the senior command of the Radwan forces — about 20 commanders — were killed in the strike.
  • IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a press conference that Aqil and the Radwan unit commanders were killed as they held a meeting under a building.

The Israel War Room announced, “40 years ago to the day, Ibrahim Aqil helped direct a Hezbollah suicide bombing that targeted the American embassy in Beirut. Today, Israel eliminated him with a surgical airstrike in Beirut. Justice is served.”

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) reacted to the report, writing, “Ibrahim Aqil was a vicious terrorist mastermind who helped murder hundreds of Americans. On behalf of the families of the Marines killed in the Beirut bombings—and on behalf of all Americans—I’m grateful justice has finally been served to this killer.”

Below are videos which allegedly show the aftermath of the airstrike on Friday.

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