Top Hezbollah commander 'killed in Israeli air strike on Beirut' as conflict escalates

Israel killed a top Hezbollah commander in an airstrike on Beirut's southern suburbs on Friday, two security sources in Lebanon said, sharply escalating the year-long conflict between Israel and the militant group.

The target was Hezbollah's operations commander Ibrahim Aqil, who serves on the group's top military body, two security sources in Lebanon and Israeli Army Radio said. Aqil was killed alongside members of Hezbollah's elite Radwan Unit as they were holding a meeting, one of the security sources said.

The strike killed eight people and wounded 59 others, Lebanon's health ministry said, in a preliminary toll. The Israeli military said it had conducted a "targeted strike" in Beirut, without giving further details.

The strike inflicted another blow on Hezbollah after the group suffered an unprecedented attack earlier this week in which pagers and walkie-talkies used by its members exploded, killing 37 people and wounding thousands. That attack was widely believed to have been carried out by Israel, which has neither confirmed or denied its involvement.

The civil defense said its rescue teams were searching for people under the rubble of two buildings hit in Friday's strike.

It marks the second time in less than two months that Israel has targeted a top Hezbollah military commander in Beirut. In July, an Israeli airstrike killed Fuad Shukr.

Aqil has a $7 million bounty on his head from the United States over his link to the deadly bombing of Marines in Lebanon in 1983, according to the U.S. State Department website.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby said he was not aware of any Israel notification to the United States before its strikes on Beirut on Friday, adding that Americans were strongly urged not to travel to Lebanon or to leave if they are already there.

Kirby, speaking to reporters, said he could not comment on the latest strikes but reiterated that the Biden administration is seeking to avoid an escalation in the region.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, delayed his scheduled departure to the U.S., where he is due to address the UN General Assembly, by a day, with an official citing the situation on the northern front. 

Earlier on Friday, Hezbollah said it targeted at least six Israeli military bases with salvos of rockets after overnight bombardment that people in south Lebanon described as among the fiercest so far.

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