Report: IDF Eliminates Senior Hezbollah Leader in Beirut Airstrike

Arab media reported late Friday afternoon that Israel carried out a surgical strike on a residential building in Beirut’s Dahieh neighborhood, a Hezbollah stronghold. The IDF swiftly claimed responsibility for the airstrike. Arab media reported four missiles hit the building, decimating it.

Security sources who spoke with Israeli media said the target of the airstrike was Ibrahim Aqil, a member of Hezbollah’s Jihad Council, the terror group’s top military body. A source close to Hezbollah who spoke with AFP likewise said Aqil was eliminated in the strike. There is no official confirmation as yet that Aqil was eliminated.

The targeted terrorist also heads Hezbollah’s Radwan special operations division and is considered the second in command of the organization. He was allegedly meeting with several Palestinian Authority officials at the time of the strike.

Aqil is wanted by the United States for his role in the 1983 bombing of a US Marines barracks in Beirut, and for directing the abduction of American and German hostages in Lebanon in the 1980s.

A Saudi report said missiles were launched from an F-35 and four explosions were heard one after the other, according to a report by Abu Ali Express.

As of 4:30 pm Friday, Beirut officials said three were killed and at least 17 others wounded in the attack. The numbers are likely to change as rubble is cleared from the site.

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