Israel kills Hezbollah leader Ibrahim Aqil and seven others in Beirut strike
Israel killed senior Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil and at least seven others in an air strike on a densely populated residential neighbourhood in Beirut on Friday.
A Lebanese security source told Middle East Eye that Aqil had been killed in the attack. Aqil was Hezbollah's second in command since the killing of Fuad Shukr in an Israeli strike on Beirut in July.
The Lebanese Civil Defense said two buildings collapsed in the Jamous neighbourhood during the strike. According to Lebanon's health ministry, at least eight were killed and 59 wounded.
In response, Hezbollah said it struck the main intelligence headquarters in northern Israel with rockets, saying it was "responsible for assassinations".
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said the Israeli strike on Beirut shows Israel "gives no weight to any humanitarian, legal or moral considerations".
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The United States has placed a $7m bounty on Aqil, accusing him of involvement in the 1983 bombing of the US embassy in Beirut, which killed 63 people, and the attack on the US Marine barracks in Lebanon the same year, which killed 241 others.
The year-long conflict between Israel and Hezbollah reached new heights this week when thousands of pagers and handheld radios were detonated in two shocking Israeli attacks.
The blasts killed 37 people, including two children, and wounded thousands more - many severely.
On Thursday, Israeli warplanes pummelled southern and eastern Lebanon with air strikes as Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, gave a speech vowing revenge and asserting that his movement would not abandon the Palestinians in Gaza.
This latest conflict, which has roots in Hezbollah’s resistance to Israel’s 1982-2000 occupation of southern Lebanon, began the day after the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel on October 7 2023.
Hezbollah has said it does not seek a large-scale war with Israel and will stop its rocket and artillery strikes, which it says are conducted in solidarity with the people under fire in Gaza, once a ceasefire is agreed upon between Hamas and the Israeli government.
The fighting has resulted in hundreds of Lebanese deaths, including both civilians and Hezbollah fighters, as well as dozens of Israelis.
In Gaza, Israeli forces have killed more than 41,000 Palestinians.
Russia, Jordan and Egypt have all said that Israel's attacks this week are an attempt to drag the Middle East into a broader regional war.
This is a developing story…
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