Israel kills on-the-run terror chief with $7m bounty on his head in huge Beirut airstrike after Hezbollah rocket blitz
A WANTED Hezbollah terror chief has been killed in a deadly Israeli airstrike on Beirut. The devastating strike came just moments after the militant group launched 140 of their own rockets at northern Israel – with one even blasting a playground. AFPThe damage after an Israeli strike in Beirut today[/caption] APPeople stand on cars which were hit in the blast[/caption] US GovernmentHezbollah official Ibrahim Aqil was targeted in the Israeli airstrike[/caption] ReutersPeople inspect the site of an Israeli strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon[/caption] At least nine people have been killed with another 60 wounded in the capital, Lebanon’s health ministry announced. Eight of the injured are said to be in a critical condition following the first Israeli attack of its kind in months. Images from Beirut’s Dahiyeh neighbourhood shows a high rise apartment block with smoke billowing out f
A WANTED Hezbollah terror chief has been killed in a deadly Israeli airstrike on Beirut.
The devastating strike came just moments after the militant group launched 140 of their own rockets at northern Israel – with one even blasting a playground.
At least nine people have been killed with another 60 wounded in the capital, Lebanon’s health ministry announced.
Eight of the injured are said to be in a critical condition following the first Israeli attack of its kind in months.
Images from Beirut’s Dahiyeh neighbourhood shows a high rise apartment block with smoke billowing out from it after it was hit at around 4pm local time.
Dozens of residents can be seen standing outside the crumbling building as cops and emergency officials assess the damage.
Other images show debris from collapsed walls piling up outside as locals look on at the chaos on top of decimated cars.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) confirmed top brass Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil, from their Radwan Force, was eliminated in today’s strike.
Hezbollah later confirmed his death.
Spokesperson Daniel Hagari announced via X: “With the precise intelligence direction of the Intelligence Division, Air Force fighter jets targeted the Beirut area and killed Ibrahim Akil.”
The Hezbollah chief was seen as the second in command of the Iran backed militia.
Some 10 other senior chiefs from the terror group were killed alongside Aqil, Israel said.
He also sits on the Jihad Council which is seen as the highest military body for Hezbollah members.
He is believed to have a $7million bounty placed on him by the US after his alleged involvement in a terrorist bombing in 1983.
The Islamic Jihad Organization attacked the US Embassy in Beirut and killed 63 people.
A few months later another bombing on a US Marines barracks in the capital led to the tragic deaths of 241 Americans.
Aqil was seen a key member of the terror group at the time.
The US Department of State also say he has been involved in a number of other terror related plots as well as kidnapping US and German hostages in the 1980s.
They labelled him as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in 2019 and offered the bounty in return for information on the commander.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby says the US wasn’t aware of any plan from Israel’s military to target a Hezbollah commander.
He said: “I’m not aware of any prenotification of those strikes. That is not atypical.”
US officials were reportedly briefed moments after the strike hit.
The Israeli air attack came just before Hezbollah launched their own menacing attack across the border.
Three separate Hezbollah barrages, made up of Katyusha rockets, were recorded today with the first being made up of over 60 missiles.
Minutes later the biggest collection of rockets was let off from Lebanon with 70 being reported by the IDF.
Another 20 were then reportedly launched at the Mount Meron region in Israel.
Israeli police confirmed one person had suffered minor injuries so far.
The IDF announced that “their impressive Iron Dome had intercepted some” of the rockets.
Several of the missiles are believed to have been able to breach the Israeli defence system with billowing smoke seen rising across northern Israel.
But just moments after the revenge hit by Hezbollah, Israel launched a ‘targeted’ counterstrike in Beirut.
The strike was intended to hit a senior Hezbollah figure but it was unclear who and if they had been killed, security forces said.
Residents in the southern suburbs of the city heard a loud blast and saw clouds of smoke, according to Reuters.
Images show a children’s playground near the Israeli city of Safed on fire with a thick, black cloud soaring from it.
Israel says many of the fires seen across the targeted regions are as a result of fallen debris rather than direct hits.
Air raid sirens were raised across the north after the first sightings were recorded with the Iran-backed militia saying it was targeting army sites.
The group announced they had fired towards Israel’s missile and artillery battalion at the Yoav barracks.
Air and missile defence headquarters in Kila and the air defence missile base in Beria was also struck.
Israeli-occupied Golan Heights was a major target but the IDF say they successfully intercepted all attacks in the region.
Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging fire across the Israeli-Lebanon border in parallel with the war Israel has waged in Gaza against Hamas after October 7.
Israel’s bombing of hundreds of targets overnight claimed to have destroyed 100 rocket launchers and around 1,000 launch barrels.
Black and white footage posted to social media showed the country blowing up targets with precision strikes.
Tens of thousands of people have had to flee the border area on both sides since the deadly fighting started 11 months ago.
Hezbollah has reportedly killed 26 civilians and 20 soldiers and forced another 80,000 Israelis to head south to escape the blitz.
Netanyahu vowed on Wednesday to return the evacuated Israelis “securely to their homes”.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has also declared the start of a “new phase” of war as the country’s army moved north in recent weeks.
The announcement paves the way for the first full-scale invasion of southern Lebanon since 2006 in a drive to push back the terror group and allow Israelis to return home.
