Hezbollah media chief killed in Israeli strike in Beirut
Hezbollah’s media chief, Mohammed Afif, has been killed in an Israeli airstrike in central Beirut, the Lebanese militant group confirmed.
The attack targeted the headquarters of the Baath political party in the densely populated Ras al-Naba neighborhood on Sunday, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency.
The Lebanese health ministry reported that four people were killed, but did not disclose their identities.
Afif, one of the group’s few remaining public figures, was last seen on Monday, when he held a press conference in the southern suburbs of Beirut, where Hezbollah is based.
Hezbollah confirmed his death on Sunday evening, several hours after the news first broke.
The airstrike caused significant damage to the Lebanese branch of the Syrian Baath Party’s headquarters, with rescue and civil defense teams working to free people trapped under the debris, the National News Agency reported.
In addition to the four fatalities, the health ministry reported 14 injuries.
The Lebanese Baath Party is a branch of the Syrian Baath Party, led by President Bashar Al-Assad, and a long-time ally of Hezbollah. Its headquarters are located near a busy intersection connecting central Beirut with the airport road and the southern suburbs.
BBC Middle East correspondent Lina Sinjab highlighted concerns that Israel’s attacks were expanding beyond Hezbollah’s military officials, as the group also holds political power in Lebanon with representatives in parliament and government ministers.
“This raises alarm that the situation is escalating rather than de-escalating, with Israeli targets now broadening to include Hezbollah in Lebanon,” she told BBC News.
Later on Sunday, another strike in central Beirut on Mar Elias Street resulted in two fatalities and 13 injuries, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
The BBC has reached out to the IDF about the second strike in central Beirut.
Earlier on Sunday, the IDF said it had conducted strikes on six Hezbollah military targets in the southern suburbs.
In the past week, the Israeli military has intensified its attacks on Beirut, amid renewed efforts led by the US for a ceasefire in the war.
Israel already killed Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah and other top commanders and senior officials in Beirut strikes in late September, when Israel launched an offensive against the Iran-backed group.
Israel said it wanted to return tens of thousands of displaced residents to the country’s north nearly a year after Hezbollah stepped up rocket attacks in support of Palestinians after Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023.
More than3,400 people have been killed in Lebanon since then, including at least 2,600 since Israel launched a intense air campaign followed by a ground invasion in the south in late September, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
Another 1.2 million people have been displaced.
