At least 14 killed, dozens wounded in Israel attack on Beirut

The health ministry issued a statement on Friday saying 14 people have been confirmed killed in southern Beirut.

It added that hospitals have so far received 66 injured, including nine in critical condition.

It noted that additional casualties are expected.

Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) has reported that five children are among the victims of the Israeli attack on a building in the area of Jamous Street.

The agency added that a F-35 jet targeted the residential area with two attacks.

Videos of the strike showed rubble and burned-out cars strewn across a busy street, as people surrounded a building with smoke billowing out of it. The strike targeted a building near the al-Qaem mosque in the Haret Hreik neighbourhood of south Beirut, a residential area.

The Israeli military announced it has carried out a “targeted strike” in the Lebanese capital, claiming to have killed top Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil and other senior commanders of the Radwan special forces unit.

Hezbollah has not confirmed whether Aqil has been killed.

The US justice department had designated Aqil as “a global terrorist” for his alleged role in the 1983 US embassy bombings in Beirut which killed 63 people, as well as the US Marine barracks attacks that year that killed 241 US personnel.

Aqil, also known as Tahsin, has been a key Hezbollah operative since the group’s inception in the early 1980s. Like most senior Hezbollah military officials, Aqil has been a shadowy figure, making no public appearances or statements.

Last year, the US issued a $7 million reward for information leading to his identification or capture.

While the Lebanese group does not publicise the rank of its members, the Israeli military said Aqil was the head of the Radwan Unit, Hezbollah’s elite force.

The Israeli attack marks the second time in less than two months that the regime has targeted a leading Hezbollah military commander in Beirut. In July, an Israeli air killed Fuad Shukr.

Tensions between Tel Aviv and Hezbollah have soared following two days of sabotage attacks blamed on Israel that set off explosives in thousands of communications devices, killing at least 37 people and injuring nearly 3,000 people, including civilians.

Earlier on Friday, Hezbollah pounded northern Israel with 170 rockets, a day after the group’s leader Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah promised to retaliate against the regime for the device detonations.

For nearly a year, Hezbollah has engaged in near-daily exchanges of fire with the Israeli military along the border in support of the Gaza Strip. Tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border have also been forced to flee their homes due to the fighting.