Hezbollah Confirms Death Of Top Military Official In Israeli Airstrike

BEIRUT (AP) — Hezbollah announced the death of a top military official in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut Friday.

Israeli officials had earlier said the rare strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs killed Ibrahim Akil, a commander of the Lebanese militant group’s elite Radwan Force. The strike killed at least 14 people and wounded dozens more, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.

In a statement, Hezbollah described Akil as “a great jihadist leader” and said he had “joined the procession of his brothers, the great martyr leaders, after a blessed life full of jihad, work, wounds, sacrifices, dangers, challenges, achievements, and victories.”

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

Israel launched a rare airstrike that killed a senior Hezbollah military official in a densely populated southern Beirut neighborhood on Friday, the Israeli army said. It was the deadliest such strike on Lebanon’s capital in years, with Lebanese health authorities reporting at least 14 people killed and dozens more wounded in the attack.

The Israeli military’s chief spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said the strike on Beirut’s southern Dahiya district killed Ibrahim Akil, a commander of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force, as well as 10 other Hezbollah operatives.

“We will continue pursuing our enemies in order to defend our citizens, even in Dahiya, in Beirut,” said Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, describing the Israeli strike that targeted Akil as part of “a new phase of war.”

There was no word from Hezbollah on Akil’s killing, which came as a flurry of tit-for-tat bombardments between the enemies raised fears of a full-out war erupting in the Middle East.

Hours before the Israeli strike, Hezbollah pounded northern