Hezbollah confirmed on Tuesday night that Israel had killed one of its top commanders, Ibrahim Kobaisi, in an airstrike that rocked Beirut’s southern suburbs on Tuesday.
Lebanese authorities said six people were killed and 15 wounded in the attack targeting Kobaisi, the head of the Iran-backed militant group’s missile wing.
“Kobeisi was a key source of knowledge in the missile field and had close ties to Hezbollah’s senior military leaders,” the IDF said, describing him as head of the organization’s missile and rocket forces.
Tuesday’s attack was the latest in a series of killings of senior Hezbollah figures. On Saturday, an Israeli military strike on Beirut killed 15 operatives, including Hezbollah special operations commander Ibrahim Akil and what Israel described as “a member of the senior chain of command of the Radwan Unit, an elite unit within Hezbollah.”
The attacks increase pressure on Hezbollah, which has experienced one of its most devastating weeks on record, since the Israeli military launched a massive bombardment of southern and eastern Lebanon, claiming on Tuesday to have hit 3,000 Hezbollah targets in the past two days.
At least 558 people have been killed, including 50 children and 94 women, since Israel began heavy air strikes on Monday, according to Lebanese officials. Nearly 2,000 more have been wounded and tens of thousands have fled the bombings in southern Lebanon.
In a statement about the latest attack on Beirut, the IDF said Kobeisi joined Hezbollah in the 1980s and later held several senior positions within the organisation, including senior officer in its operational forces in southern Lebanon.
“In these roles, he was responsible for planning and carrying out numerous terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers,” the IDF said, claiming that other commanders of the division were with Kobeisi at the time of the attacks.
In the attack, Israel struck a six-story apartment building in Gobeiri, a densely populated district in southern Beirut where Hezbollah has a stronghold.
Hezbollah officials posted photos on social media showing the top floor of a building reduced to rubble, and videos posted on social media showed debris strewn across the streets, blowing dust and damaged cars near the scene of the attack.
This comes after Israeli military commanders said the IDF would continue to step up attacks on Hezbollah. IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Helgi Halevi said on Tuesday that the group “must not be given a rest” and vowed to “accelerate offensive operations.”
The Israeli government said it would continue what the IDF has dubbed “Northern Arrows,” with a focus on hitting Hezbollah arms depots, until it is safe for northern residents displaced by months of cross-border attacks to return to their homes.
Hezbollah said on Tuesday it had used a new rocket, the Fadi-3, in attacks on Israeli military bases.
Hezbollah on Monday began characterizing its attacks as “in defense of Lebanon and its people,” after previously describing them as retaliation for various Israeli attacks and measures to support the people of Gaza. A senior Hezbollah official said defending Lebanon had become its “main objective.”
Several international airlines have suspended flights to Beirut and Tel Aviv, and US national security spokesman John Kirby urged Americans in Lebanon to leave the country while commercial flights are still possible.
“We want to make sure there are still commercial options for Americans to leave the country, and they should leave now while they still have the option,” Kirby told ABC News.
British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer on Tuesday night told British nationals in Lebanon to “leave immediately.”
“We are stepping up our contingency planning, as I think you would have expected given the escalation,” Starmer told reporters on his way to New York.
The British government has also stepped up contingency planning for the mass evacuation of British nationals from Lebanon, ordering 700 British troops to Cyprus.
World leaders gathered at the United Nations General Assembly to call for an end to the escalating hostilities and warned that the fighting was on the brink of spiralling into an all-out regional war.
“No country stands to gain from further escalation of tensions in the Middle East,” the G7 foreign ministers said.
US President Joe Biden said diplomacy was the “only way” to end tensions between Israel and Hezbollah.
“All-out war is in no one’s interest. The situation is getting worse, but a diplomatic solution is still possible,” Biden said.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdalla Bou Habib said in New York on Tuesday that Biden’s comments were “not encouraging” but added that the United States remained “the only country that can really make a difference when it comes to the Middle East and Lebanon.”
Biden also reiterated his call for an end to fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The Biden administration has been pushing for a ceasefire there, which is seen as linked to tensions on Israel’s northern border.
“Now is the time for the parties to finalize the terms and end this war,” Biden said.
Cartography: Steven Bernard and Chris Cook
