Israel Claims to Have Killed 'Number Two Military Man' and 10 Senior Hezbollah Commanders

In retaliation for an attack by Hezbollah on northern Israel, Israel targeted the Dahieh area in southern Beirut. Israeli media report that the Israeli army conducted a 'targeted attack' and announced that Ibrahim Aqil, the acting commander of Hezbollah's Radwan unit, was killed in this attack. The official Lebanese news agency reported on Friday, September 30, citing the country's Ministry of Health, that the attack has so far resulted in 14 deaths and 66 injuries, with at least 9 of them in critical condition, and the death toll may rise. Ibrahim Aqil was considered the number two military figure in Hezbollah, a group supported by the Islamic Republic of Iran and labeled as 'terrorist' by the United States. There is still no precise news from Hezbollah sources regarding the fate of 'Ibrahim Aqil,' but the Israeli army officially stated that he was killed. The army spokesperson mentioned that about 10 other senior Hezbollah commanders were also killed alongside Ibrahim Aqil. The spokesperson's brief statement noted that 'the aim of this elimination was to protect Israeli citizens' and added that Israel does not seek to escalate tensions in the region. Channel 12 of Israeli television also reported that the Israeli airstrike targeted a meeting of Hezbollah commanders. Before the official announcement from the Israeli army, some Lebanese sources responded to reports published in Israeli media by stating that 'Ibrahim Aqil' was not present at the targeted meeting. Hours after the reports were published, the Tasnim news agency, close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, briefly announced that it denied the news of the death of Mohammad Reza Fallahzadeh, the deputy of the Quds Force of the IRGC, during this attack, which some local sources had claimed. Meanwhile, the Iranian embassy in Lebanon strongly condemned what it called Israel's 'mad and brazen attack' on 'residential areas in the suburbs of Beirut' on Friday. The Hezbollah-affiliated television 'Al-Manar' reported that the Israeli attack was carried out using drone missiles and targeted several sites in the Dahieh area. However, Arab media reported, citing their reporters, that the attack was carried out using fighter jets. This is considered the third attack attributed to Israel in Lebanon in recent days following the explosion of pagers and then communication devices in the country. The Israeli army claims to have targeted several Hezbollah infrastructures in southern Lebanon but refrained from providing details in this regard. Earlier, this Iranian-backed militia group announced that it had attacked several Israeli military positions along the border with Lebanon with Katyusha rockets. The Israeli army also stated that 120 rockets were fired towards areas in the Golan Heights, Safed, and Upper Galilee, some of which were intercepted and destroyed. According to the army, firefighting forces were trying to extinguish the wreckage of the fired rockets. Israel did not refer to the targeted objectives. Meanwhile, Reuters, in an exclusive report citing two security sources from Hezbollah Lebanon, stated that this militia group was still distributing new devices to its members just hours before the pager explosions. These security sources told Reuters on Friday, September 30, that at least one member of the Hezbollah militia had received one of these devices just 'the day before the pager explosions' on September 27 and exploded while 'the box had not yet been opened.' Another source also told Reuters that another pager was delivered 'a few days before the explosion' to 'a senior Hezbollah member.' According to this report, these pagers also bore the brand 'Gold Apollo,' indicating that Hezbollah, while engaged in actions to assess electronic threats, had confidence in the safety of these pagers. The simultaneous explosion of thousands of pagers across Hezbollah bases in southern Lebanon, the suburbs of Beirut, and the eastern Bekaa Valley on September 27 and the following day's explosion of Hezbollah radios resulted in the deaths of 37 people and injuries to several thousand others. Regarding the connection of several companies with Hezbollah's pagers, these pagers resembled devices made by the Taiwanese company Gold Apollo, but this company announced on the same day that it had outsourced their production, and in fact, a Hungarian company named BAC Consulting produced them. However, new findings from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty indicate that traces of companies and individuals in Bulgaria and Norway are also seen in the production of these pagers. Lebanon and Hezbollah claim that Israel is behind these attacks, but Israel, which has since increased its airstrikes on Lebanon, has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement. In its report today, Reuters cited a security source stating that identifying explosive materials inside the pagers 'was not possible with any device or scanner,' although this source did not specify the types of scanners Hezbollah used to examine the pagers. The report adds that Hezbollah Lebanon began examining these pagers after their delivery to Lebanon, including passing them through airport security gates to ensure that these devices did not emit an alert. Hassan Nasrallah: 'We suffered a heavy blow'; Gallant: 'Hezbollah will pay a higher price.' These attacks and the distribution of devices, despite normal security checks, have called into question Hezbollah's credibility as the most powerful militia group supported by the Islamic Republic of Iran, to the extent that the leader of Hezbollah stated on Thursday, September 29, in a speech that his group had suffered a 'hard and unprecedented blow in history' because of this. The Taiwanese company Gold Apollo stated that it did not produce these devices for use in attacks and said that these devices were manufactured by a company in Europe that has permission to use this company's brand. Hezbollah Lebanon has turned to the use of pagers to prevent the tracking of its members' mobile phones by Israel after the deaths of its senior commanders in targeted airstrikes last year. The conflict between Hezbollah and Israel dates back decades, but last year, alongside the Gaza war, tensions between Hezbollah and Israel intensified, raising concerns about an all-out regional war. A security source from Hezbollah told Reuters that this militia group has neutralized other Israeli operations aimed at the imported devices of this group from abroad, from the personal phones of its members to the air conditioning units in the group's offices. This source also added that regarding the pagers, 'they deceived us; we must congratulate the enemy.'