By Andrew Jones
Saturday September 21, 2024
People inspect the site of an Israeli strike in a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, on 20 September 2024 (Reuters/Mohamed Azakir)
Hezbollah was reeling Saturday from an Israeli airstrike that killed two of its senior figures and dozens of other people, intensifying fears of all-out war in the Middle East.
Hezbollah said Ibrahim Akil, who helped establish the militant and political group’s elite Radwan Force, and Ahmed Wahbi, who was in charge of Hezbollah’s central training unit, were killed in the strike Friday on a densely populated suburb of the Lebanese capital Beirut.
At least 31 people were killed in total, including three children, and 68 injured, Lebanese health minister Firass Abiad told a news conference Saturday.
Iran, which backs the militant and political group, said the region was “on the brink of war” after what it said was “another major crime” by Israel. The strike followed the coordinated detonation of pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to Hezbollah members across Lebanon earlier in the week.
Israel has not publicly claimed responsibility for that attack, but Hezbollah and officials across the world have said Israel was behind the explosions. It was the latest major escalation between Israel and an Iran-backed group to raise concerns about a broader conflict.
At a military parade in Tehran on Saturday, the Islamic Republic showed off its growing arsenal, including what it said was a new self-detonating drone.
Speaking to a gathering of officials and ambassadors, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei denounced Israel for what he said were “the crimes they commit without shame” against children.
And a senior officer in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said the region was on the brink of war.
Calling Israel’s airstrike “another major crime,” Mohsen Rezaee raised the prospect of widening conflict, saying “it is possible that after Lebanon, they may extend their crimes toward Iraq, Syria, or, with an even bigger mistake, toward Iran,” according to a report in Tasnim, a semi-official news agency believed to be close to the IRGC.
The United Nations warned Friday that the situation in the Middle East could be about to get worse.
“If things continue as they are, we risk seeing a conflagration that could dwarf even the devastation and suffering witnessed so far,” the U.N.’s political affairs chief, Rosemary DiCarlo, told an emergency security council meeting, adding “It’s not too late to avoid such folly. There is still room for diplomacy, which must be used without delay.”
In a statement after the strike Friday, Hezbollah, which Washington has designated a terrorist organization, announced the deaths of 19 of its fighters, including Akil and Wahbi. Though it didn’t say whether all of them were killed in the strike, it raises to 499 the number of Hezbollah fighters killed in months of cross-border exchanges since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 terror attacks.
The United States had been offering a reward of up to $7 million for information on Akil, who it said was “a principal member” of the group that claimed responsibility for the 1983 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Beirut.
Icom, the brand whose label was on the walkie-talkies that exploded this week, said it did not believe they were genuine products, pointing to the lack of holographic stickers on the devices. In a statement Friday, the Japanese company said it believed “that it is extremely unlikely that the radio that exploded was manufactured by our company.”
The company added “we are saddened that radios/communication devices, which should be a tool for ensuring safety and peace of mind, have been used in this way, regardless of whether they are manufactured by our company or not.”