Hezbollah was in disarray on Saturday following an Israeli bombing that claimed the lives of two of its top leaders and several others, heightening concerns about a full-scale conflict in the Middle East following the fatal assaults on the organization’s communication technology.
According to Hezbollah, the attack on a heavily populated neighborhood of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, on Friday resulted in the deaths of Ahmed Wahbi, who oversaw the organization’s core training unit, and Ibrahim Akil, who assisted in creating the militant and political group’s elite Radwan Force.
Firass Abiad, the health minister of Lebanon, stated during a press conference on Saturday that the strike claimed the lives of at least 31 individuals, three of whom were children. According to Abiad, 68 persons had been admitted to hospitals, two of them were in severe condition.
The synchronized explosion of pagers and walkie-talkies owned by Hezbollah members around Lebanon earlier in the week preceded the strike.
Although Israel has not officially taken credit for the strike, Hezbollah has accused Israel of being behind the explosives, and American officials have told NBC News that Israel was responsible.
For information on Akil, who the US alleged to be “a principal member” of the organization claiming responsibility for the 1983 bombing of the US embassy in Beirut, the US had been offered a reward of up to $7 million.
Hezbollah, which the US has classified as a terrorist group, reported the deaths of 19 of its fighters, including Akil and Wahbi, in a statement following the hit on Friday. It did not specify how many were killed in the strike, but this takes the total number of Hezbollah members lost in cross-border skirmishes throughout the months after the terror strikes led by Hamas on October 7 to 499.
The attacks, according to Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bouhabib, “represent a serious, unprecedented event in the history of wars, and they come in the aftermath of Israeli declarations concerning a full-scale war on Lebanon, sending Lebanon back to the Stone Age,” he said in a speech to the UN Security Council on Friday.
Speaking to the Lebanese foreign minister, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, said, “You have allowed a terrorist organization to create a state within your state, bringing ruin to your own people.” Rather of placing the blame on us, your amicable neighbors, you ought to move promptly to constrain Hezbollah and prevent further intensification.
