Nook Studio
Nook Media Middle East correspondent
Reporting from Beirut
Mr:Adil
Nook Media News
Reporting from USA
A senior Hezbollah military commander was killed Friday in an Israeli air strike on the Lebanese capital Beirut, a major escalation that added new fears of an all-out war.
Ibrahim Aqil was among those whose deaths Hezbollah confirmed after Israel announced he and others were among its fallen from the attack.
Earlier, Lebanon authorities stated that at least 14 people died and dozens were injured in the strike on the densely populated Dahieh area, a stronghold of the Iran-backed group in the city's southern suburbs.
A senior UN official warned that the Middle East is at risk of a conflict that could "dwarf" the devastation witnessed in the region so far.
Political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo speaks to a session of the Security Council after the attacks which saw Hezbollah's pagers and walkie-talkies explode, killing at least 37.
Chaotic scenes attended the emergency operation as response teams scrambled to the scene of the attack, rescuing the injured and searching for other people believed to be trapped under the rubble. At least one residential building collapsed while others were given extensive damage.
Hezbollah members closed streets as some appeared incredulous at the attack, representing another blow in a week which saw pagers and walkie-talkies owned by the group explode.
It was the first strike to target the capital Beirut since July, when Hezbollah's military chief Fuad Shukr was killed in a similar strike. Dozens had been killed, and thousands wounded in those attacks, widely believed to be orchestrated by Israel.
IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a statement Aqil, a senior commander in Hezbollah's elite Radwan forces, was among those killed yesterday, as were senior operatives in the group's operations staff and other commanders of the Radwan forces.
"had been brought together underground under a residential building in the heart of the Dahiyah neighborhood [in southern Beirut], hiding among Lebanese civilians, using them as human shields," Hagari said.
Furthermore, he indicated that the killed were "plotting Hezbollah's 'Conquer the Galilee' attack plan, in which Hezbollah would infiltrate Israeli communities to murder innocent civilians".
The plan was first reported by the Israeli military back in 2018, who indicated that it was blocking tunnels dug into Israeli territory by Hezbollah to kidnap and murder civilians.
In April Washington said it was seeking Aqil, also known as Tahsin and was offering financial rewards "to anyone with information leading to his identification, location, arrest and/or conviction".
He was wanted by the US because of his associations and seniority in Hezbollah, a group which has been proscribed a terrorist organisation by Israel, the UK, US and other countries.
In the 1980s, Aqil was amongst the group that blew up the US embassy in Beirut and a marine barracks, killing hundreds.
Hezbollah confirmed in a post on social media that Aqil was one of its great jihadist leaders.
The movement was established in the early 1980s by the most powerful Shia force in the region, Iran, for the purpose of opposing Israel. Israel's military had at this time been occupying southern Lebanon throughout the civil war that engulfed that country.
Hezbollah said earlier it had targeted military installations in northern Israel. The IDF reported that 140 rockets have been fired into northern parts of the country, while Israeli police have issued a number of warnings about damage to roads.
It came after Israel said its warplanes had hit more than 100 Hezbollah rocket launchers and other "terrorist sites," including a weapons storage facility. The strike follows extensive air strikes against southern Lebanon.
The shooting between Israel and Hezbollah in the frontier became intense on 8 October 2023, a day after Hamas gunmen from Gaza mounted an unprecedented attack on Israel when Hezbollah fired on Israeli positions as a gesture of solidarity with the Palestinians.
Since then, hundreds-most of them Hezbollah fighters-have been killed in the cross-border fighting; and tens of thousands have also been displaced on both sides of the border.
Israel has added the return of people displaced from the north of the country to the list of war goals, and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said yesterday that his country enters a "new phase of the war", concentrating more of its efforts on the north.
Following explosions of pagers and walkie-talkies across Lebanon at the beginning of this week, a deepened sense of unease has been heard echoing through the Middle Eastern country.
It was an unprecedented security breach that indicated how deeply Israel had managed to penetrate the group's communication system.
Most of the blasts occurred simultaneously. Radio waves from walkie-talkies blasted in the same area on Wednesday where a huge crowd had gathered for the funerals of four victims who were victims of Tuesday's pager blasts.
Hezbollah and Lebanese authorities have blamed Israel for carrying out the explosions.
Israeli officials remain mum on the claims, but most analysts believe it indeed is the culprit.
Speaking Thursday evening in a televised address, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said, "The enemy crossed all rules, laws and red lines. It didn't care about anything at all, not morally, not humanely, not legally."
He vowed a harsh punishment, but indicated his group was not interested in an escalation of its current conflict with Israel.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habbib told the UN Security Council on Friday that Israeli actions had "deliberately undermined all efforts toward a ceasefire in Gaza and all attempts by the Lebanese government to de-escalate and exercise self-restraint".
Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, said his country does not want to engage in a wider war but "will not allow Hezbollah to continue provocation".
We risk seeing a conflagration that could dwarf even the devastation and suffering witnessed so far," UN political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo told the Security Council.
"I also strongly urge member states with influence over the parties to leverage it now," she added.
US and UK authorities called their citizens to avoid travel to Lebanon. The White House said it was engaged in high-intensity diplomacy that aimed at preventing the armed conflict along Israel-Lebanon border from being escalated any further.
A senior Hezbollah military commander was killed Friday in an Israeli air strike on the Lebanese capital Beirut, a major escalation that added new fears of an all-out war.
Ibrahim Aqil was among those whose deaths Hezbollah confirmed after Israel announced he and others were among its fallen from the attack.
Earlier, Lebanon authorities stated that at least 14 people died and dozens were injured in the strike on the densely populated Dahieh area, a stronghold of the Iran-backed group in the city's southern suburbs.
A senior UN official warned that the Middle East is at risk of a conflict that could "dwarf" the devastation witnessed in the region so far.
Political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo speaks to a session of the Security Council after the attacks which saw Hezbollah's pagers and walkie-talkies explode, killing at least 37.
Chaotic scenes attended the emergency operation as response teams scrambled to the scene of the attack, rescuing the injured and searching for other people believed to be trapped under the rubble. At least one residential building collapsed while others were given extensive damage.
Hezbollah members closed streets as some appeared incredulous at the attack, representing another blow in a week which saw pagers and walkie-talkies owned by the group explode.
It was the first strike to target the capital Beirut since July, when Hezbollah's military chief Fuad Shukr was killed in a similar strike. Dozens had been killed, and thousands wounded in those attacks, widely believed to be orchestrated by Israel.
IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a statement Aqil, a senior commander in Hezbollah's elite Radwan forces, was among those killed yesterday, as were senior operatives in the group's operations staff and other commanders of the Radwan forces.
"had been brought together underground under a residential building in the heart of the Dahiyah neighborhood [in southern Beirut], hiding among Lebanese civilians, using them as human shields," Hagari said.
Furthermore, he indicated that the killed were "plotting Hezbollah's 'Conquer the Galilee' attack plan, in which Hezbollah would infiltrate Israeli communities to murder innocent civilians".
The plan was first reported by the Israeli military back in 2018, who indicated that it was blocking tunnels dug into Israeli territory by Hezbollah to kidnap and murder civilians.
In April Washington said it was seeking Aqil, also known as Tahsin and was offering financial rewards "to anyone with information leading to his identification, location, arrest and/or conviction".
He was wanted by the US because of his associations and seniority in Hezbollah, a group which has been proscribed a terrorist organisation by Israel, the UK, US and other countries.
In the 1980s, Aqil was amongst the group that blew up the US embassy in Beirut and a marine barracks, killing hundreds.
Hezbollah confirmed in a post on social media that Aqil was one of its great jihadist leaders.
The movement was established in the early 1980s by the most powerful Shia force in the region, Iran, for the purpose of opposing Israel. Israel's military had at this time been occupying southern Lebanon throughout the civil war that engulfed that country.
Hezbollah said earlier it had targeted military installations in northern Israel. The IDF reported that 140 rockets have been fired into northern parts of the country, while Israeli police have issued a number of warnings about damage to roads.
It came after Israel said its warplanes had hit more than 100 Hezbollah rocket launchers and other "terrorist sites," including a weapons storage facility. The strike follows extensive air strikes against southern Lebanon.
The shooting between Israel and Hezbollah in the frontier became intense on 8 October 2023, a day after Hamas gunmen from Gaza mounted an unprecedented attack on Israel when Hezbollah fired on Israeli positions as a gesture of solidarity with the Palestinians.
Since then, hundreds-most of them Hezbollah fighters-have been killed in the cross-border fighting; and tens of thousands have also been displaced on both sides of the border.
Israel has added the return of people displaced from the north of the country to the list of war goals, and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said yesterday that his country enters a "new phase of the war", concentrating more of its efforts on the north.
Following explosions of pagers and walkie-talkies across Lebanon at the beginning of this week, a deepened sense of unease has been heard echoing through the Middle Eastern country.
It was an unprecedented security breach that indicated how deeply Israel had managed to penetrate the group's communication system.
Most of the blasts occurred simultaneously. Radio waves from walkie-talkies blasted in the same area on Wednesday where a huge crowd had gathered for the funerals of four victims who were victims of Tuesday's pager blasts.
Hezbollah and Lebanese authorities have blamed Israel for carrying out the explosions.
Israeli officials remain mum on the claims, but most analysts believe it indeed is the culprit.
Speaking Thursday evening in a televised address, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said, "The enemy crossed all rules, laws and red lines. It didn't care about anything at all, not morally, not humanely, not legally."
He vowed a harsh punishment, but indicated his group was not interested in an escalation of its current conflict with Israel.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habbib told the UN Security Council on Friday that Israeli actions had "deliberately undermined all efforts toward a ceasefire in Gaza and all attempts by the Lebanese government to de-escalate and exercise self-restraint".
Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, said his country does not want to engage in a wider war but "will not allow Hezbollah to continue provocation".
We risk seeing a conflagration that could dwarf even the devastation and suffering witnessed so far," UN political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo told the Security Council.
"I also strongly urge member states with influence over the parties to leverage it now," she added.
US and UK authorities called their citizens to avoid travel to Lebanon. The White House said it was engaged in high-intensity diplomacy that aimed at preventing the armed conflict along Israel-Lebanon border from being escalated any further.
A senior Hezbollah military commander was killed Friday in an Israeli air strike on the Lebanese capital Beirut, a major escalation that added new fears of an all-out war.
Ibrahim Aqil was among those whose deaths Hezbollah confirmed after Israel announced he and others were among its fallen from the attack.
Earlier, Lebanon authorities stated that at least 14 people died and dozens were injured in the strike on the densely populated Dahieh area, a stronghold of the Iran-backed group in the city's southern suburbs.
A senior UN official warned that the Middle East is at risk of a conflict that could "dwarf" the devastation witnessed in the region so far.
Political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo speaks to a session of the Security Council after the attacks which saw Hezbollah's pagers and walkie-talkies explode, killing at least 37.
Chaotic scenes attended the emergency operation as response teams scrambled to the scene of the attack, rescuing the injured and searching for other people believed to be trapped under the rubble. At least one residential building collapsed while others were given extensive damage.
Hezbollah members closed streets as some appeared incredulous at the attack, representing another blow in a week which saw pagers and walkie-talkies owned by the group explode.
It was the first strike to target the capital Beirut since July, when Hezbollah's military chief Fuad Shukr was killed in a similar strike. Dozens had been killed, and thousands wounded in those attacks, widely believed to be orchestrated by Israel.
IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a statement Aqil, a senior commander in Hezbollah's elite Radwan forces, was among those killed yesterday, as were senior operatives in the group's operations staff and other commanders of the Radwan forces.
"had been brought together underground under a residential building in the heart of the Dahiyah neighborhood [in southern Beirut], hiding among Lebanese civilians, using them as human shields," Hagari said.
Furthermore, he indicated that the killed were "plotting Hezbollah's 'Conquer the Galilee' attack plan, in which Hezbollah would infiltrate Israeli communities to murder innocent civilians".
The plan was first reported by the Israeli military back in 2018, who indicated that it was blocking tunnels dug into Israeli territory by Hezbollah to kidnap and murder civilians.
In April Washington said it was seeking Aqil, also known as Tahsin and was offering financial rewards "to anyone with information leading to his identification, location, arrest and/or conviction".
He was wanted by the US because of his associations and seniority in Hezbollah, a group which has been proscribed a terrorist organisation by Israel, the UK, US and other countries.
In the 1980s, Aqil was amongst the group that blew up the US embassy in Beirut and a marine barracks, killing hundreds.
Hezbollah confirmed in a post on social media that Aqil was one of its great jihadist leaders.
The movement was established in the early 1980s by the most powerful Shia force in the region, Iran, for the purpose of opposing Israel. Israel's military had at this time been occupying southern Lebanon throughout the civil war that engulfed that country.
Hezbollah said earlier it had targeted military installations in northern Israel. The IDF reported that 140 rockets have been fired into northern parts of the country, while Israeli police have issued a number of warnings about damage to roads.
It came after Israel said its warplanes had hit more than 100 Hezbollah rocket launchers and other "terrorist sites," including a weapons storage facility. The strike follows extensive air strikes against southern Lebanon.
The shooting between Israel and Hezbollah in the frontier became intense on 8 October 2023, a day after Hamas gunmen from Gaza mounted an unprecedented attack on Israel when Hezbollah fired on Israeli positions as a gesture of solidarity with the Palestinians.
Since then, hundreds-most of them Hezbollah fighters-have been killed in the cross-border fighting; and tens of thousands have also been displaced on both sides of the border.
Israel has added the return of people displaced from the north of the country to the list of war goals, and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said yesterday that his country enters a "new phase of the war", concentrating more of its efforts on the north.
Following explosions of pagers and walkie-talkies across Lebanon at the beginning of this week, a deepened sense of unease has been heard echoing through the Middle Eastern country.
It was an unprecedented security breach that indicated how deeply Israel had managed to penetrate the group's communication system.
Most of the blasts occurred simultaneously. Radio waves from walkie-talkies blasted in the same area on Wednesday where a huge crowd had gathered for the funerals of four victims who were victims of Tuesday's pager blasts.
Hezbollah and Lebanese authorities have blamed Israel for carrying out the explosions.
Israeli officials remain mum on the claims, but most analysts believe it indeed is the culprit.
Speaking Thursday evening in a televised address, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said, "The enemy crossed all rules, laws and red lines. It didn't care about anything at all, not morally, not humanely, not legally."
He vowed a harsh punishment, but indicated his group was not interested in an escalation of its current conflict with Israel.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habbib told the UN Security Council on Friday that Israeli actions had "deliberately undermined all efforts toward a ceasefire in Gaza and all attempts by the Lebanese government to de-escalate and exercise self-restraint".
Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, said his country does not want to engage in a wider war but "will not allow Hezbollah to continue provocation".
We risk seeing a conflagration that could dwarf even the devastation and suffering witnessed so far," UN political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo told the Security Council.
"I also strongly urge member states with influence over the parties to leverage it now," she added.
US and UK authorities called their citizens to avoid travel to Lebanon. The White House said it was engaged in high-intensity diplomacy that aimed at preventing the armed conflict along Israel-Lebanon border from being escalated any further.
A senior Hezbollah military commander was killed Friday in an Israeli air strike on the Lebanese capital Beirut, a major escalation that added new fears of an all-out war.
Ibrahim Aqil was among those whose deaths Hezbollah confirmed after Israel announced he and others were among its fallen from the attack.
Earlier, Lebanon authorities stated that at least 14 people died and dozens were injured in the strike on the densely populated Dahieh area, a stronghold of the Iran-backed group in the city's southern suburbs.
A senior UN official warned that the Middle East is at risk of a conflict that could "dwarf" the devastation witnessed in the region so far.
Political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo speaks to a session of the Security Council after the attacks which saw Hezbollah's pagers and walkie-talkies explode, killing at least 37.
Chaotic scenes attended the emergency operation as response teams scrambled to the scene of the attack, rescuing the injured and searching for other people believed to be trapped under the rubble. At least one residential building collapsed while others were given extensive damage.
Hezbollah members closed streets as some appeared incredulous at the attack, representing another blow in a week which saw pagers and walkie-talkies owned by the group explode.
It was the first strike to target the capital Beirut since July, when Hezbollah's military chief Fuad Shukr was killed in a similar strike. Dozens had been killed, and thousands wounded in those attacks, widely believed to be orchestrated by Israel.
IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a statement Aqil, a senior commander in Hezbollah's elite Radwan forces, was among those killed yesterday, as were senior operatives in the group's operations staff and other commanders of the Radwan forces.
"had been brought together underground under a residential building in the heart of the Dahiyah neighborhood [in southern Beirut], hiding among Lebanese civilians, using them as human shields," Hagari said.
Furthermore, he indicated that the killed were "plotting Hezbollah's 'Conquer the Galilee' attack plan, in which Hezbollah would infiltrate Israeli communities to murder innocent civilians".
The plan was first reported by the Israeli military back in 2018, who indicated that it was blocking tunnels dug into Israeli territory by Hezbollah to kidnap and murder civilians.
In April Washington said it was seeking Aqil, also known as Tahsin and was offering financial rewards "to anyone with information leading to his identification, location, arrest and/or conviction".
He was wanted by the US because of his associations and seniority in Hezbollah, a group which has been proscribed a terrorist organisation by Israel, the UK, US and other countries.
In the 1980s, Aqil was amongst the group that blew up the US embassy in Beirut and a marine barracks, killing hundreds.
Hezbollah confirmed in a post on social media that Aqil was one of its great jihadist leaders.
The movement was established in the early 1980s by the most powerful Shia force in the region, Iran, for the purpose of opposing Israel. Israel's military had at this time been occupying southern Lebanon throughout the civil war that engulfed that country.
Hezbollah said earlier it had targeted military installations in northern Israel. The IDF reported that 140 rockets have been fired into northern parts of the country, while Israeli police have issued a number of warnings about damage to roads.
It came after Israel said its warplanes had hit more than 100 Hezbollah rocket launchers and other "terrorist sites," including a weapons storage facility. The strike follows extensive air strikes against southern Lebanon.
The shooting between Israel and Hezbollah in the frontier became intense on 8 October 2023, a day after Hamas gunmen from Gaza mounted an unprecedented attack on Israel when Hezbollah fired on Israeli positions as a gesture of solidarity with the Palestinians.
Since then, hundreds-most of them Hezbollah fighters-have been killed in the cross-border fighting; and tens of thousands have also been displaced on both sides of the border.
Israel has added the return of people displaced from the north of the country to the list of war goals, and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said yesterday that his country enters a "new phase of the war", concentrating more of its efforts on the north.
Following explosions of pagers and walkie-talkies across Lebanon at the beginning of this week, a deepened sense of unease has been heard echoing through the Middle Eastern country.
It was an unprecedented security breach that indicated how deeply Israel had managed to penetrate the group's communication system.
Most of the blasts occurred simultaneously. Radio waves from walkie-talkies blasted in the same area on Wednesday where a huge crowd had gathered for the funerals of four victims who were victims of Tuesday's pager blasts.
Hezbollah and Lebanese authorities have blamed Israel for carrying out the explosions.
Israeli officials remain mum on the claims, but most analysts believe it indeed is the culprit.
Speaking Thursday evening in a televised address, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said, "The enemy crossed all rules, laws and red lines. It didn't care about anything at all, not morally, not humanely, not legally."
He vowed a harsh punishment, but indicated his group was not interested in an escalation of its current conflict with Israel.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habbib told the UN Security Council on Friday that Israeli actions had "deliberately undermined all efforts toward a ceasefire in Gaza and all attempts by the Lebanese government to de-escalate and exercise self-restraint".
Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, said his country does not want to engage in a wider war but "will not allow Hezbollah to continue provocation".
We risk seeing a conflagration that could dwarf even the devastation and suffering witnessed so far," UN political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo told the Security Council.
"I also strongly urge member states with influence over the parties to leverage it now," she added.
US and UK authorities called their citizens to avoid travel to Lebanon. The White House said it was engaged in high-intensity diplomacy that aimed at preventing the armed conflict along Israel-Lebanon border from being escalated any further.
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