BEIRUT, Lebanon
A top Hezbollah military commander was killed in an Israeli air strike on the Lebanese capital Beirut on Friday, in a major escalation that has added to fears of an all-out war.
Hezbollah confirmed Ibrahim Aqil's death after Israel said he was one of several senior Hezbollah figures killed in the strike.
Earlier, Lebanese officials said at least 14 people were killed and dozens injured in the strike that hit the densely populated Dahieh area, a stronghold of the Iran-backed group in the city’s southern suburbs.
A senior UN official has warned that the Middle East is at risk of a conflict that could "dwarf" the devastation witnessed in the region so far.
Political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo was speaking at a session of the Security Council following this week's attacks which saw Hezbollah's pagers and walkie-talkies explode, killing at least 37 people.
In Beirut, there were chaotic scenes as emergency teams rushed to the site of the attack, rescuing the wounded and searching for people believed to be trapped under the rubble. At least one residential building collapsed and others were heavily damaged.
Streets were closed by Hezbollah members, some looking incredulous as the attack represented another humiliating blow in a week which saw pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to the group explode.
Dozens were killed and thousands wounded in those attacks, widely believed to be orchestrated by Israel.
Friday's strike was the first to hit Beirut since July, when Hezbollah’s military chief Fuad Shukr was killed.
In a statement, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Daniel Hagari said Aqil, a senior commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan forces, was killed alongside senior operatives in the group’s operations staff and other Radwan commanders.
Hagari said they "were gathered underground under a residential building in the heart of the Dahiyah neighbourhood [in southern Beirut], hiding among Lebanese civilians, using them as human shields".
The IDF spokesman added that the individuals killed were “planning Hezbollah’s 'Conquer the Galilee' attack plan, in which Hezbollah intended to infiltrate Israeli communities and murder innocent civilians".
The plan was first reported by the Israeli military in 2018, when the IDF said it was blocking tunnels dug by Hezbollah to penetrate Israeli territory and kidnap and murder civilians.
In April, Washington said it was searching for Aqil, also known as Tahsin, and offered financial rewards to anyone with "information leading to his identification, location, arrest and/or conviction".
He was wanted by the US due to his links and seniority within Hezbollah, a group that has been proscribed a terrorist organisation by Israel, the UK, US and other countries.
In the 1980s, Aqil was a member of the group that orchestrated the bombings of the US embassy in Beirut and a marine barracks, killing hundreds of people.
Confirming Aqil's death in a post on social media, Hezbollah described him as one of its "great jihadist leaders".
The group was established in the early 1980s by the region's most dominant Shia power, Iran, to oppose Israel. At the time, Israel's forces had occupied southern Lebanon during the country's civil war.
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