3 months ago
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Aftermath of Israel's Friday strike in Beirut
Hezbollah
, a militant group in
Lebanon
, on Saturday said that its top commander
Ahmed Wahbi
was killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut suburbs.
Ahmed Wahbi, who oversaw military operations of the Radwan special forces amid the
Gaza war
until early 2024, was eliminated on Friday.
Israel, in Friday's "targeted strike" on Hezbollah stronghold in southern Beirut, also killed
Ibrahim Aqil
, head of Hezbollah's elite
Radwan unit
.
A thick cloud of smoke was seen rising over the Lebanese capital after residents in the southern suburbs said they heard a loud blast.
"Israel conducted an
air strike
on the Beirut southern suburbs near Al-Qaem mosque," a Lebanese security official told news agency AFP.
The United States had offered a $7 million reward for information on Aqil. It has described him as a "principal member" of Hezbollah that claimed the bombing of the US embassy in Beirut in 1983 that killed 63 people.
Additionally, the White House national security spokesman, John Kirby, said that he had no knowledge of Israel notification United States about the strikes in Beirut on Friday. He also requested the Americans to refrain from travelling to Lebanon and to leave as soon as possible if they are there.
Earlier, Hezbollah launched a barrage of 140 rockets into northern Israel after Hezbollah's leader,
Hassan Nasrallah
, pledged to strike back at Israel in response to Israel's recent air strikes.
The Israeli military reported that the rockets were fired in three separate waves on Friday afternoon, targeting various locations along the border with Lebanon.
The Israeli military confirmed that 120 missiles were fired at areas in the Golan Heights, Safed, and Upper Galilee, with some being intercepted. Fire crews were dispatched to extinguish fires caused by debris that had fallen in various locations. The military did not report any casualties or successful missile strikes on targets.
The war that was triggered after Hamas's bloody attack on Israeli soil on October 7 has now spread to the north in Lebanon, with both Israel and Hezbollah exchanging cross-border fires.
