The Israeli air force killed senior Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil in an airstrike on Beirut. Aqil was in a bunker several feet below a residential building where he was meeting with the top brass of Hezbollah’s operations array and the leadership of the Radwan Force. Aqil was the head of Hezbollah's military operations and commander of the elite Radwan force. Israel says that he was the commander of the operation to invade the Galilee in an October 7-style strike.
Alongside Aqil, the top brass of Hezbollah’s operations array and the leadership of the Radwan Force were killed in the strike, according to the military. In a statement, the IDF says Aqil was the head of Hezbollah’s military operations, the acting commander of the terror group’s elite Radwan Force, and the head of a plan to invade the Galilee.
"Aqil and the commanders who were eliminated were among the architects of the ‘plan for the occupation of the Galilee,’ in which Hezbollah planned to raid Israeli territory, occupy the communities of the Galilee, murder and kill innocents, similar to what the Hamas terror organization carried out in the murderous massacre on October 7,” the IDF says in the statement.
Aqil was also wanted by the United States for his role in the 1983 Marine barracks bombing in Beirut as well as directing the taking of U.S. hostages in Lebanon during the 1980s. The targeted killing of Aqil is one more sign that war between Israel and Hezbollah is liable to break out at any time.
The terrorists have had the most brutal week they've experienced in decades. Two devastating attacks using their own electronics against them, more targeted strikes in their Southern Lebanese strongholds, and now the killing of Aqil has the terrorists reeling.
The psychological pressure on Hezbollah must be overwhelming at this point. Israel knows the date, the hour, and the minute it will strike. Hezbollah can only brace itself for what should be another devastating blow.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah gave a speech that's either a comedy skit or the most brazenly hypocritical talk in recent memory.
"The enemy crossed all rules, laws, and red lines," said Nasrallah in a speech on Thursday. "It didn't care about anything at all, not morally, not humanely, not legally." This is from the man who leads a group that deliberately targets little children and non-combatants and is proud of it.
Both U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin have canceled trips to Israel in the next few days because of the probability that there will be war.
Austin canceled his trip to talk with Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Wednesday, before the pager and walkie-talkie attacks.
Blinken said after a meeting in Paris that the U.S. "calls on all parties to maintain restraint and avoid escalation on the border between Israel and Lebanon." It's a futile gesture. Shortly after he made those remarks, he canceled his scheduled visit to Israel on Sunday over fears of war.
Israel will not wait long to attack. Hezbollah is in total disarray, seeing shadows and unable to effectively communicate. Meanwhile, Israel has transferred an entire division from Gaza to the Lebanese border awaiting the command to go in.
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