More than 30 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah in the Lebanese capital, Lebanese health officials said.
Minister of Health Firas Abiad said At a press conference on Saturday, he said 31 people were killed in the attack in southern Beirut, including seven women and three children, adding that at least 68 people were injured, with around 15 still recovering in hospital, two in critical condition.
Friday's attack killed Ibrahim Akil, Hezbollah's operational chief and commander of the elite special forces Radwan Unit, according to the Israeli military. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) added that other senior commanders of the Radwan Unit were also killed.
Israeli military spokesman Maj. Gen. Daniel Hagari said Akil and other Radwan commanders “hidden in the basement of a residential building in the center of the Dahiyeh district, using civilians as human shields.”
“They came together to coordinate terrorist activities against the Israeli people,” he said Friday.
The attack came shortly after Hezbollah fired about 140 rockets at Israel, most of which were shot down by Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system, according to the Israeli military.
And the deadly attacks on pagers and walkie talkies earlier this week, followed by attacks on military leaders, have raised fears that a larger Israeli attack on Hezbollah is imminent and that a wider war is inevitable.
The explosion killed at least 37 people and injured nearly 3,000, according to officials, but the Israeli military has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement in the attack.
Hezbollah, designated a terrorist organization by Israel and the United States, has been engaged in an offensive since the Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 Israelis and taking more than 250 hostages.
The Israeli military responded with retaliatory attacks that have killed around 41,000 Palestinians so far, according to local health officials, a count that does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
