Israeli strike in Beirut kills Hezbollah press chief, Hezbollah confirms death By Reuters
BEIRUT (Reuters) – An Israeli strike on a building in central Beirut on Sunday killed Hezbollah communications chief Mohammad Afif, two Lebanese security sources told Reuters, although there was no immediate confirmation from the pro-Iranian group.
Israel rarely strikes senior Hezbollah operatives who do not have clear military roles, and its airstrikes have mostly targeted areas south of Beirut where the group has a strong presence.
A second, separate strike later Sunday hit Mar Elias Street, another central and unusual area to be targeted by Israel, targeting a car, Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV reported. Lebanon’s Ministry of Health said the strike killed at least two people.
The Israeli military declined to comment in response to questions from Reuters about the strike that killed Afif. The account of an Israeli military spokesman on social media site X, which regularly publishes instructions to evacuate bombed areas, did not display such a warning before the strike.
Hezbollah and Israel have been trading fire for more than a year, since the group first launched rockets at Israeli military targets on October 8, 2023. That was the day after its Palestinian ally Hamas launched an attack in southern Israel, killing at least 1,200, Israeli authorities. say.
In late September, Israel increased its military campaign in Lebanon, bombing heavily in the south and east as well as areas south of Beirut and infiltration along the border.
Israel’s campaign in Lebanon over the past year has killed 3,841 people and wounded nearly 15,000, Lebanon’s Ministry of Health said on Sunday, giving a figure that did not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Hezbollah rockets fired from the border killed scores of Israelis, including soldiers and civilians, Israel said.
Separate attacks on the Gaza Strip in Israel’s war with Hamas have killed more than 43,000 people, most of them civilians, according to Palestinian health officials.
SOLDIERS FROM SELBANE HAVE BEEN KILLED
In addition to targeting Hezbollah, the outbreak has killed dozens of Lebanese army soldiers, including two killed Sunday when Israel attacked a military base in the southern town of Al-Mari, the Lebanese army said on X.
Two other soldiers were injured.
A Beirut strike targeting a Hezbollah official hit the Ras al-Nabaa area, where many people displaced by Israeli bombardment in the south had sought refuge.
Lebanese security sources said the Ba’ath Party office building was hit, and the party’s head in Lebanon, Ali Hijazi, told Lebanese broadcaster Al-Jadeed that Afif was in the building.
The Syrian Social Nationalist Party, another political party with ties to Hezbollah, said in a statement that Afif had been killed but did not provide details of how or where. The Ministry of Health in Lebanon said the strike killed one person and injured three others.
Ambulances were heard rushing to the scene, and guns were fired to prevent crowds of people from approaching.
Later, the broadcaster also said that Afif was killed.
It showed footage of the building collapsing to the first floor, with security personnel at the scene.
Afif was the media adviser to Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the southern suburbs of Beirut on September 27.
He ran Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV channel for several years before taking over the group’s press office.
Afif hosted several press conferences for journalists amid the rubble in the southern suburbs of Beirut. In his most recent remarks to reporters on November 11, he said that the Israeli army has not been able to capture any territory in Lebanon, and that Hezbollah has enough weapons and supplies to fight a long war.
