Israel launched an attack on a residential neighborhood in the southern outskirts of Lebanese capital in an effort to kill Ibrahim Aqil, a top Hezbollah leader. Shortly after the Israeli army declared it had killed Aqil in the assault on the Dahiyeh neighborhood, Hezbollah verified Aqil’s death.
According to Lebanese Ministry of Health, at least 14 persons were killed and 66 more were injured in the incident. As reported by the Israeli daily Haaretz, Aqil was hurt in the pager blasts and got out from the hospital earlier on Friday.
Aqil was a top official in Hezbollah’s special Radwan Force, and the US Department of State had placed a $7 million bounty for those who detect or report his place. More than two structures were destroyed by the Israeli bombardment while he was allegedly attending a joint conference between Hezbollah and an unidentified Palestinian organization.
In a clip published in social media, there were mounds of grey debris where a single structure used to be. While Lebanese Civil Defence forces excavated in search of those who survived, heavy dust overtook parked cars and flew onto the sidewalks. Hezbollah was dealt a further blow by the strike following an extraordinary attack one and two days earlier. Its militants employed thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies, which detonated during the attack, leaving thousands wounded and 37 dead.
This was Israel’s second attack on a senior Hezbollah military figure in Beirut in this summer. The group’s senior officer in charge, Fuad Shukr, was murdered in July by an Israeli assault. Removing Hezbollah’s top commander, Aqil, would deal the organization even further severe damage.
The Israeli armed forces claims that Aqil, who joined Hezbollah in the 1980s, was in charge of the organization’s activities outside Lebanon. Aqil, like the majority of prominent Hezbollah military figures, has remained anonymous and hasn’t made any public shows or pronouncements. Aqil, also referred to as Tahsin, was a member of Hezbollah’s top military organization, according to US sources.
Due to his involvement in the 1983 explosions of the US Embassy in Beirut, which claimed 63 lives, he was sought in the United States of America. Aqil was also responsible for another attack against the US Marine Corps barracks that claimed the lives of 241 US soldiers.
Aqil was a top leader of the Hezbollah unit known as the Islamic Jihad Organization, which claimed responsibility for the assaults.
US authorities claim that Aqil oversaw the 1980s capture of German and American hostages. Leading the Hezbollah-Israeli cross-border combatants is the Radwan Force.
