Fuad Shukr

Israel has targeted Hezbollah commanders in airstrikes in Beirut amid an escalating conflict with the Iranian-backed Lebanese group.

People and first responders gather at the scene of an Israeli strike in Beirut's southern suburbs on Sept. 20, 2024.

Israel said Friday that it killed the commander of Hezbollah's elite unit in a strike that Lebanese officials said left 14 dead and dozens wounded in the movement's Beirut stronghold.

The IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) announced that Ibrahim Aqil, the head of Hezbollah’s operations group, was killed in an airstrike. They also stated that 10 members of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan unit, who were planning an operation akin to the events of “October 7th” in northern Israel, were also killed.

In their official statement, the IDF said:

News agencies such as Agence France-Presse, Sky News, and Reuters report that Aqil died in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) strike, although Hezbollah has not officially confirmed this. Reuters also noted that other members of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan unit were killed in the same attack.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi communicated on Friday with his French and British counterparts, indicating that while Iran does not seek to escalate the regional conflict, it retains the right to respond to Israel's assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

The CEO of I.M. Tattom Consulting Ilan Mizrahi, former deputy director of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency and former national security adviser to the country's prime minister, analyzes the country's strategy of "surgical strikes" and its possible side effects in an interview with Kathimerini.

Athens is preparing for a potential evacuation of Greek nationals from the Middle East as regional tensions escalate.

Military and political resources may be mobilized for evacuations from the region, including Lebanon and Israel, with Cyprus as the first stop. Greece has also offered to assist in evacuating citizens of other nationalities.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has declared Türkiye's commitment to acting as a guarantor of peace amid escalating tensions in the Middle East.

"Those who seek to profit from the tears of innocents will sooner or later understand how gravely they have made a mistake," Erdoğan said after a cabinet meeting on Aug. 5.

Turkey urged its citizens in Lebanon to leave the country if they do not need to stay, due to the possibility that the security situation there will deteriorate rapidly, its foreign ministry said late on Sunday.

Just before 11:30 PM on Sunday, the Jerusalem Post, citing a Bloomberg report and information from Israeli officials, reported that an imminent strike from multiple fronts is expected. There are no further details available at the moment.