Israel strikes Beirut for first time since ceasefire, reportedly killing Hezbollah commander

A senior commander from Hezbollah’s elite force was killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs on Wednesday night, the first such attack on the area in nearly a month, a source close to the group said.

At least 11 other people were killed in strikes across the south and east, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his military had targeted “the commander of Hezbollah’s Radwan force.”

The source close to the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah said that “Malek Ballout, the operations commander in the Radwan force” was killed.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency had reported that “Israeli warplanes launched an attack, targeting Ghobeiri” in the southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold.

Many of the southern suburbs’ residents had already left after Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the war in March and have not returned despite the truce in force since 17 April.

Beirut and its southern suburbs had been spared Israeli attacks since 8 April, when massive Israeli strikes across the country killed more than 350 people.

Israel has repeatedly bombed Lebanon, particularly the south, since the truce, with Hezbollah retaliating by launching attacks on Israeli troops.

The Israeli military said in a statement on Thursday that an “explosive drone impact” wounded four soldiers, one severely, in southern Lebanon the previous day.

Read more: Euronews