Top Hezbollah leader reportedly killed in Israeli air strike in Beirut

Ibrahim Aqil was head of militant group's elite Radwan unit; total of 8 dead in attack

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Top Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil was killed on Sept 20, a source close to the group in Lebanon said, with an Israeli strike on its Beirut stronghold killing eight people and wounding dozens more.

The Israeli military said it had conducted a "targeted strike", while the Lebanese Health Ministry said the attack had killed eight people and wounded 59 more.

Requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, the source close to Hezbollah said the strike in south Beirut had killed Aqil, the head of the militant group's elite Radwan unit.

The air strike is the third to hit the southern suburbs of Beirut since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct 7, with the focus of the violence shifting dramatically this week from Gaza to Lebanon.

Strikes blamed on Israel also killed a top commander of Hezbollah, Fuad Shukr, in July, and a leader of allied Palestinian militant group Hamas, Saleh al-Aruri, in January.

"The Israeli air strike killed Radwan Force commander Ibrahim Aqil, its armed force's second-in-command after Fuad Shukr," the source close to Hezbollah said.

Hezbollah has not officially confirmed his death, but it said after the strike that it had hit an Israeli intelligence base it claimed was responsible for unspecified "assassinations".

The US had offered a US$7 million (S$9 million) reward for information on Aqil, describing him as a "principal member" of the organisation that claimed the bombing of the US Embassy in Beirut in 1983 that killed 63 people.

Footage posted on social media on Sept 20 and verified by AFP showed smoke rising over southern Beirut.