31 killed including top Hezbollah commanders in Israeli strike on Beirut
The air attacks targeted senior commanders and stoked fears of a wider war between Israel and Hezbollah
The Israeli military and a security source in Lebanon said Ibrahim Aqil had been killed with other senior members of an elite Hezbollah unit in the air strike, sharply escalating the year-long conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed group.
Hezbollah confirmed Aqil’s death in a statement just after midnight that called him “one of its top leaders,” without providing details of how he died.
In a second statement issued later, Hezbollah said Aqil was killed in Beirut’s southern suburbs of Dahiyeh in what it called a “treacherous Israeli assassination”.
It said that Ahmed Wahbi, a commander who oversaw the military operations of the Radwan special forces during the Gaza war until early 2024, was also killed in the Israeli strike. Three Syrian nationals were among the dead, according to Lebanon’s health minister Firass Abiad.
Lebanon’s health ministry said at least 31 people died in the strike, including seven women and three children, and the toll was expected to climb as rescue teams worked through the day. The ministry did not reveal whether the toll included Aqil or any other Hezbollah commanders.