The IDF announced on Friday in a rare statement that it had carried out a strike in Hezbollah's stronghold in Beirut, confirming several hours later that it had killed its chief operations officer and senior officials at the elite Radwan unit. The strike took place in the Dahiyah district, its most important area, and where it is believed to have its high commands.
IDF Spokesperson Daniel Hagari said that "with precise intelligence, fighter jets carried out a targeted strike in the Beirut area and eliminated Ibrahim Aqil, head of Hezbollah terrorist organization's operations apparatus, the de facto commander of the Radwan Unit, and commander of the 'Galilee Conquest Plan.'" He added that "along with Akil, the top leadership of the operations apparatus and the chain of command of the Radwan Unit were eliminated in the strike."
Aqil, who is known as Tahsin, and is a principal member of Hezbollah's Islamic Jihad Organization that has carried out major terrorist attacks outside Lebanon as well as on the US Embassy in Beirut in 1983, which claimed 63 lives. Earlier, a Hezbollah source who spoke with AFP, confirmed that he was successfully eliminated. The Lebanese government said 3 people were killed.
Aqil is (or was, if reports are true) number two in the chain of command of Hezbollah. https://t.co/aUppHl6p2n pic.twitter.com/PI3dgm6KFo
— nofm_geopolitics (@nofmgeopolitics) September 20, 2024
He is wanted by the US with a reward on his for up to 7 million dollars. "The IDF conducted a targeted strike in Beirut," the military said on X when the news of the incident first started trickling in. This was the second time the IDF announced such a military operation in the Lebanese capital since the start of the war (the first time was after the assassination of Fuad Shukr in Beirut, who was Aqil's commander and considered the Hezbollah operations chief). The IDF quickly said there was no change in how Israelis should act, apparently trying to ensure this was not interpreted as a major escalation. "If there are changes, we will send updates," the Hebrew version of the tweet said.
Video: The site of the surgical strike in Beirut on Sept. 20, 2024
The incident comes amid heightened tensions in Lebanon after Israel allegedly carried out one of its most sophisticated cyber attacks on the Shiite terrorist group, in which it supposedly tampered with its communication devices and had them blow up among thousands of operatives, causing numerous injuries, including 500 terrorists who were severely maimed. The organization suffered dozens of fatalities from those explosive-laden radios and pagers in two waves of attack, with Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah this could be interpreted as a declaration of war by Israel.
Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets in the wake of those attacks, with residents all across northern Israel having to run into shelters.
One of the targets in the attack was a senior member of Hezbollah's military wing, Ibrahim Akil. pic.twitter.com/iuPubVAlAn
— Breaking News (@TheNewsTrending) September 20, 2024
Just on Friday, 150 rockets were fired. One Israeli soldier was also killed from an anti-tank missile.
