Israel confirms death of senior Hezbollah official in Beirut bombing

September 20 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have confirmed the death of the operations chief of the Lebanese Shiite militia party Hezbollah, Ibrahim Akil, in the “targeted bombings” carried out this Friday against the Lebanese capital, Beirut, which left a provisional toll of nine dead and almost 60 wounded.

Along with Akil, other “architects of the ‘Galilee Conquest Plan'” have died, an alleged military operation with which Hezbollah would try to “invade” Israel in an attack similar to that of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on October 7, and triggering the current regional war, according to an Army statement.

Akil began his career in Hezbollah in the 1980s, when he joined Islamic Jihad, taking part in “numerous attacks carried out in several countries.” Since 2004 he has served as Hezbollah’s chief of operations and as commander of the Radwan Unit.

This unit is an elite force of Hezbollah whose objective is “to occupy the settlements of the Israeli Galilee and kill innocent soldiers and civilians,” according to information from the Israeli army, which indicates that Akil “promoted many terrorist attacks and plots” against Israelis and the IDF.

Akil was behind the attack on the U.S. Embassy in Beirut in 1983, which led to a wanted warrant from U.S. authorities, who offered a $7 million reward for information that could lead to his capture.

The Israeli Armed Forces carried out a “targeted bombing” on Friday against several locations in southern Beirut, leaving at least nine dead and nearly 60 wounded in an attack that comes amid a resurgence of clashes with Hezbollah and which raises fears of an expansion of the conflict in the region.

The attack is Israel’s first in Beirut since July 30, when it killed a senior Hezbollah commander identified as Fuad Sukur – an incident that also left an Iranian adviser and five civilians, including two children, dead – a day before the assassination in the Iranian capital, Tehran, of Hamas political wing leader Ismail Haniyeh, an incident blamed on Israeli authorities.

The bombing comes amid a sharp rise in tensions following two days of coordinated explosions of the group’s communications devices — on September 17 and 18 — attacks blamed on Israel and which have left nearly 40 dead and some 3,000 wounded, according to the latest assessment provided by the Lebanese authorities.

The escalation of clashes between Israel and Hezbollah – a group supported by Iran that has significant military and political clout in Lebanon – has raised fears of the possibility of an expansion of the conflict in the Middle East. In this context, the Israeli army presented its “operational plans” regarding Lebanon to the United States last week.