Israel kills a top Hezbollah commander in Beirut, in new blow after Lebanon pager blasts

Israel killed a top Hezbollah commander in an air strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs on Friday, the Israeli military and two security sources in Lebanon said, sharply escalating the year-long conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed group.

Israeli military said that Ibrahim Aqil, who served on Hezbollah’s top military body, was the acting commander of the group’s elite Radwan force and that he was killed along with other senior commanders of the unit.

One of the security sources in Lebanon said he was killed with members of the Radwan unit as they held a meeting.

The strike killed nine people and wounded 59 others, Lebanon’s health ministry said, in a preliminary toll.

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.