The Lebanese movement Hezbollah announced todaythe death of a second member of the Israeli aerial bombardment which was launched the previous day in a southern suburb of Beirut, its stronghold, where at least 16 Hezbollah fighters were killed, according to the Israeli military spokesman.

The movement, which is close to Iran, reported that the Ahmed Mahmoud Wahhabi until the beginning of the year he commanded an operational unit of the elite Raduan force of its military arm. This unit acts to support the Hamasthe Palestinian Islamist movement at war with Israel in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023.

The most prominent figure of these was the head of the Raduan force, the Ibrahim Akil. It is the second senior Hezbollah official to be killed in Israeli airstrikes since the movement opened a front on Lebanon’s border with Israel nearly a year ago in support of its ally Hamas.

Hezbollah confirmed late in the evening the death of Ibrahim Akil, of “one of our great leaders” who was killed “on the road to Jerusalem,” in the terminology used by the Iran-proximate movement when referring to victims of Israeli military operations.

The U.S. had issued a $7 million bounty on Ibrahim Akil, who was allegedly involved in the deadly 1983 anti-American attacks in Beirut.

Ibrahim Akil

The strike flattened an entire building, killing at least 31 people, according to the latest Lebanese health ministry tally, including three children.

Hamas condemned the “terrorist attack”, while Iran the “flagrant violation (…) of the territorial integrity” of Lebanon. On the other hand, the Israeli armed forces assured that they do not seek a “major escalation” of the war in the region. But Israel’s bold, coordinated attacks, targeting Hezbollah members with explosives hidden inside buzzers and radios, have once again brought the Middle East to the brink of a wider conflict nearly a year after the militant group Hamas attacked Israel in October 7 which resulted in the war in Gaza.