An Israeli raid targeted the southern suburb of Beirut, known as Dahyeh, on Friday afternoon, in the third such attack on Hezbollah’s stronghold since the pro-Iranian group opened its “support front” for Gaza on October 8.
The Israeli army claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack, indicating that Ibrahim Akil, head of operations and a member of Hezbollah’s Jihadist Council, was the target.
The first strike occurred on January 2, targeting Saleh al-Arouri, a founding member of the Al-Qassam Brigades (the armed wing of Hamas) and vice-president of the Hamas political bureau. He was killed in a drone attack on his apartment in the Moawad area of Dahyeh.
Two Hamas officials were also killed, including Arouri’s aide and head of the Palestinian group’s operations in southern Lebanon, code-named Abou Amer. The attack also claimed the lives of six civilians and wounded 11.
The strike had targeted the apartment where the Palestinian cadres were meeting. Arouri’s car, parked in front of the building, was also hit.
Israeli officials then described Arouri’s assassination as a “high-quality operation,” vowing that “the fate of all Hamas leaders is death.”
The second Israeli strike on Hezbollah’s hotbed in south Beirut took place on July 30. It targeted Fouad Shokr, Hezbollah’s military leader and an influential advisor to the group’s secretary general Hassan Nasrallah, killing him instantly.
Three people, a woman and two children, were killed and 74 were wounded in that strike.
Hezbollah initially denied the death of its military leader, then confirmed that he was present in the targeted building. It was only 24 hours later that the group officially announced the death of Shokr, whom it considered “a major symbol of the resistance.”
According to a source close to the group, his liquidation was a major blow to the party’s structure, given the “leading role” he played in Hezbollah’s operations against Israel from southern Lebanon.
Shokr’s assassination came in response to a deadly attack on the town of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights on July 27, in which 12 youngsters, aged between 10 and 16, were killed in a playground. Israel then blamed Hezbollah, naming Shokr as the mastermind.
Friday’s raid came within days of the unprecedented explosion of booby-trapped communication devices, including pagers and walkie-talkies, that are used by Hezbollah operatives.
The official death toll of the cyberattack that occurred on Tuesday and Wednesday is 37 dead and 3,021 injured.
