Three other people were injured in the raid in the densely populated Ras al-Nabaa district in the Lebanese capital, officials said on Sunday, adding that the building was targeted without warning. Many Lebanese displaced by Israel’s ongoing strikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs had taken refuge in the neighbourhood.
Afif managed Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television station for several years before taking over as the top media relations officer for the armed group.
He hosted several press conferences amid the rubble in the southern suburbs of the capital devastated by weeks of Israeli bombardment.
His killing is the latest in a string of assassinations of top Hezbollah leaders, including its chief Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah, since Israel dramatically intensified its attacks across Lebanon in late September after one year of fire exchanges along the border.
Military analyst Elijah Magnier told Al Jazeera that the killing of Afif is part of Israel’s strategy to disrupt Hezbollah’s leadership and its ability to communicate with the world.
It will also undermine Hezbollah’s ability to coordinate responses that counter Israel’s war narrative, which will force other officials in the group to be more visible, Magnier added
“And also, it is showing that high-profile people in Hezbollah, no matter if they are military or non-military personnel, they can be assassinated.”
