Israel has announced that the Hezbollah leaders killed in the Beirut strike were planning to murder and kidnap citizens in a ‘similar manner’ to October 7, edging the Middle East closer to the brink of all-out war.
A spokesman for the Israel Defence Forces confirmed on X that Ibrahim Aqil, the Head of Hezbollah’s Operations Unit and the Commander of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan forces was ‘eliminated’ in a ‘targeted intelligence-based strike’ in Beirut earlier today. Senior operatives were killed alongside the top Hezbollah commander.
The IDF claimed that Aqil and the Radwan commanders were planning a ‘Conquer the Galilee’ attack.
‘Hezbollah intended to infiltrate Israeli communities and kidnap and murder innocent civilians in a similar manner to the October 7 Massacre,’ the IDF said.
‘The IDF will continue to remove the threat of Hezbollah’s capabilities and will continue to operate in all arenas to protect Israeli civilians.’
The Iranian embassy in Beirut has labelled today’s strike as ‘Israeli madness that crossed all lines’.
Senior Hezbollah terror cell commander Ibrahim Aqil, who had a a $7 million bounty placed on him by the US for his role in 1980s terror attacks on Americans in Lebanon, was reportedly targeted and killed in the strike.
About 10 senior Hezbollah commanders had been killed along with Aqil, according to Israel’s military spokesperson, who added that their ‘elimination’ was ‘intended to protect the citizens of Israel’ and that his country was not seeking regional escalation.
Lebanese health authorities have so far only confirmed that eight people died in the attack, with 59 injured.
Pictures have emerged showing a huge crater where a building was razed in the southern Daniyeh suburb, a Hezbollah stronghold which is also a residential area with tightly-packed blocks of flats.
It marks the first such attack on the Lebanese capital in months, with previous strikes on the same area killing former chief commander Fuad Shukr on July 30 and Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Aruri on January 2.
News of the attack broke around the same time as Hezbollah launched around 150 rockets into Israel in retaliation for overnight bombing raids, with the militant group saying it had attacked the country’s main intelligence headquarters in the north.
Tensions are soaring in the region following the deadly sabotage attacks on thousands of Hezbollah fighters’ pagers and walkie talkies, which the militant group and its backers Iran attributed to Israel, vowing revenge against their joint enemy.
Israel has not commented on the blasts, but has stepped up its campaign against Hezbollah since they began on Tuesday, striking dozens of rocket launchers in southern Lebanon last night.
Hezbollah staged revenge attacks this afternoon, announcing it had launched ‘salvos of Katyusha rockets’ against at least six Israeli ‘army headquarters’ and bases, including a ‘main air defence base’.
The Iran-backed Lebanese group and Israel have been engaged in bitter cross-border fighting since war broke out in Gaza last October, with Hezbollah naming 482 members who have been killed so far.
Responding to news of the reported killing of senior Hezbollah operative Aqil, Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati accused Israel of giving ‘no weight to any humanitarian, legal or moral considerations.’
The Iranian embassy in Lebanon condemned Israel’s attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs as ‘Israeli madness that crossed all lines’ by targeting residential buildings, it said in a post on X.
Meanwhile the White House has said it was not pre-notified of the airstrike, adding that this was ‘not atypical’.
It comes after Lebanon’s ambassador to the UK warned yesterday that an Israeli ground invasion would lead to a ‘doomsday’ scenario of all-out regional conflict.
Rami Mortada told The Times that the region is on a ‘perilous path’ with the prospect of Iran and its proxy militia forces in Yemen, Iraq and Syria all joining a conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
The group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah said in an address yesterday that pager and walkie talkie bomb attacks ‘could be called a declaration of war’ – fuelling fears that a major conflict could erupt at any time.
Israel has moved more troops to the border in recent days and has stepped up its aerial attacks on southern Lebanon after more than 11 months of cross-border fighting between the sworn enemies.
The Israeli military said today that 120 missiles were launched at areas of the Golan Heights, Safed and the Upper Galilee, some of which were intercepted.
Fire crews were working to extinguish blazes caused by pieces of debris that fell to the ground in several areas.
Another 20 missiles were shot at the areas of Meron and Netua, and most fell in open areas, the military said, adding no injuries were reported.
Hezbollah said the rockets were in retaliation for Israeli strikes on villages and homes in southern Lebanon.
Israel said previously that it struck hundreds of rocket launchers and other Hezbollah infrastructure on Thursday night.
A statement from the Israel Defence Forces on X said: ‘With the direction of IDF intelligence, the IAF struck approximately 30 Hezbollah launchers and terrorist infrastructure sites, containing approximately 150 launcher barrels that were ready to fire projectiles toward Israeli territory.
‘Additionally, the IDF struck Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure and a weapons storage facility in multiple areas in southern Lebanon.’
At the same time, the army ordered residents in parts of the Golan Heights and northern Israel to avoid public gatherings, minimise movements and stay close to shelters in anticipation of possible rocket fire.
Hezbollah struck at least four times in northern Israel on Thursday and two Israeli soldiers were killed in a strike earlier in the day.
Their attacks came while the leader of Hezbollah vowed to keep up daily strikes on Israel despite this week’s deadly sabotage of its members’ communication devices.
The attacks began hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expanded Israel’s official war aims, saying its military would now aim to halt Hezbollah’s attacks in the north to allow tens of thousands of residents to return to their homes.
In a direct response during his address on Thursday, Nasrallah said Israelis displaced from their homes near the Lebanon border because of the fighting would not be able to return until the war in Gaza ends.
The attack on electronic devices appeared to be the culmination of a months-long operation by Israel to target as many Hezbollah members as possible all at once – but civilians were also hit.
At least 37 people were killed, including two children, and some 3,000 wounded in the explosions Tuesday and Wednesday.
Nasrallah said the group is investigating how the bombings were carried out.
‘Yes, we were subjected to a huge and severe blow,’ he said. ‘The enemy crossed all boundaries and red lines.
‘The enemy will face a severe and fair punishment from where they expect and don’t expect.’
He said Hezbollah will continue its barrages into northern Israel as long as the war in Gaza continues, vowing that Israel will not be able to bring its people back to the border region.
‘The only way is stop the aggression on the people of Gaza and the West Bank,’ he said. ‘Neither strikes nor assassinations nor an all-out war will achieve that.’
Earlier on Thursday, Hezbollah said it had targeted three Israeli military positions near the border, two of them with drones. Israeli hospitals reported eight people lightly or moderately injured.
Hezbollah says its near-daily fire is a show of support for Hamas. Israel’s 11-month-old war with Hamas in Gaza began after its militants led the October 7 attack on Israel.