Updated September 21, 2024 at 05:14 AM ET
BEIRUT — The Israeli military launched an airstrike in a suburb of Lebanon's capital on Friday, after a deadly week of attacks that have intensified the fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese militia Hezbollah.
The Israeli military said it carried out a “targeted strike” on senior Hezbollah official Ibrahim Akil and said that several more Hezbollah officials were killed as well.
Early Saturday morning, Hezbollah confirmed the death of Akil along with 14 other members of the group.
The strike killed 31 people and wounded 68 others, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. Dozens more are missing, including many members of the same families thought to be buried under the rubble.
In a briefing, Israel's military spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said Akil had been planning an attack on Israel’s northern communities. "These terrorists planned to do in northern Israel what Hamas did in southern Israel on Oct. 7 — invade Israeli homes and kill innocent people," he said, without adding further evidence for this claim.
"Our enemies have no place of refuge — not even in the Dahieh in Beirut," Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant wrote on the social platform X.
Akil (which has also been spelled Aqil) was wanted by the U.S. for involvement in deadly attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Beirut and Marines barracks in 1983 and other militant operations, according to the State Department.
Lebanon’s national news agency said initial reports on Friday showed an airstrike hit a building near the al-Qaim complex, used for religious gatherings in Dahiyeh district south of Beirut. Lebanese television showed footage of extensive building damage, car wreckage and ambulances racing to the site.
The strike came hours after Hezbollah pounded northern Israel with 140 rockets, most of which were shot down by Israel, and the two sides traded dozens of missiles across the Israeli-Lebanese border overnight.
This latest round of fighting follows a series of near-synchronized explosions of pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to Hezbollah members and allies across Lebanon and parts of Syria, which killed more than 32 people and wounded thousands, according to Lebanese health officials. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Thursday vowed to retaliate against Israel.
Israel has not publicly commented on the electronic device attacks. But a U.S. official, who was not authorized to speak to reporters, told NPR that Israel notified Washington that it had carried out Tuesday's pager attacks.
The United Nations human rights chief, Volker Türk, said, "Simultaneous targeting of thousands of individuals, whether civilians or members of armed groups, without knowledge as to who was in possession of the targeted devices, their location and their surroundings" violates international law.
Hezbollah is designated a terrorist organization by the United States and other countries. While it has some support in Lebanon, a political party and powerful militia — with Iranian backing — many Lebanese people fear it is leading their country into all-out war.
“Lebanon cannot afford to have the war of other people, and other nations on our ground,” Lebanese member of parliament Najat Aoun Saliba said. “And this is what Hezbollah is doing.”
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