Who is Ibrahim Aqil, the Hezbollah commander targeted by Israel?

Israel targets apical Hezbollah commandant successful aerial raid connected Beirut suburb that kills 12 radical and wounds 66.

Israel has deed a residential country successful the confederate suburbs of Lebanon’s capital, Beirut successful an attempted assassination of senior Hezbollah commandant Ibrahim Aqil.

The Israeli subject says it “eliminated” Aqil connected Friday, but Hezbollah has yet to corroborate that helium has been killed.

The onslaught killed 12 radical and wounded 66 others, Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health said, successful a preliminary toll.

Aqil, a elder person successful Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force with a $7m reward connected his caput from the US Department of State, was reportedly successful a associated gathering betwixt Hezbollah and an unnamed Palestinian radical erstwhile the Israeli onslaught levelled astatine slightest 2 buildings.

Witness footage showed piles of grey rubble wherever 1 gathering erstwhile stood and heavy particulate spilling into the thoroughfare and covering parked cars, arsenic Lebanese Civil Defence forces dug successful hunt of survivors.

The onslaught inflicted different stroke connected Hezbollah aft the radical suffered an unprecedented onslaught earlier this week successful which pagers and walkie-talkies utilized by its members exploded, sidesplitting 37 radical and wounding thousands.

It marked the 2nd clip successful little than 2 months that Israel has targeted a starring Hezbollah subject commandant successful Beirut. In July, an Israeli aerial onslaught killed Fuad Shukr, the group’s apical subject commander.

Killing Aqil, second-in-command of Hezbollah’s equipped forces, would beryllium different large stroke to the group.

People inspect the tract of an Israeli onslaught successful the confederate suburbs of Beirut [Mohamed Azakir/Reuters]

According to US officials, Aqil, besides known arsenic Tahsin, served connected Hezbollah’s highest subject body. He was wanted successful the US successful transportation to his relation successful the 1983 bombings of the US Embassy successful Beirut, which killed 63 people, and of the US Marine Corps barracks, which killed 241 US personnel.

The attacks were claimed by the Islamic Jihad Organization, a Hezbollah cell, of which Aqil was a elder member.

Aqil besides directed the taking of American and German captives successful the 1980s, according to US officials.

The Radwan Force are astatine the forefront of Hezbollah’s cross-border warring with Israel.

Aqil was injured during the pagers explosions connected Tuesday and was discharged from the infirmary earlier connected Friday, according to Israeli paper Haaretz.

Source

:

Al Jazeera and quality agencies