Israeli military confirms it killed top Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil in Beirut strike

The Israeli military confirmed on Friday (September 20) that it had killed top Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil and other senior commanders of the movement's Radwan special forces unit, in a strike in southern Beirut, sharply escalating the year-long conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed group. The Israeli military said that Aqil, who served on Hezbollah's top military body, was the acting commander of the group's elite Radwan force and that he was killed along with other senior commanders of the unit. The strike killed nine people and wounded 59 others, Lebanon's health ministry said, in a preliminary toll. The strike inflicted another blow on Hezbollah after the group suffered an unprecedented attack earlier this week in which pagers and walkie talkies used by its members exploded, killing 37 people and wounding thousands. That attack was widely believed to have been carried out by Israel, which has neither confirmed or denied its involvement. Aqil has a $7 million bounty on his head from the United States over his link to the deadly bombing of Marines in Lebanon in 1983, according to the U.S. State Department website. The Israeli military reported warning sirens sounded in northern Israel following the Beirut strike. Israeli media reported heavy rocket fire in northern Israel. Hezbollah said it had fired Katyusha rockets at what it described as the main intelligence headquarters in northern Israel "which is responsible for assassinations". For more ABS-CBN News videos, click the link below: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgyY1WylJUmgUHWUpi2ioSp4xAP1SmAaf For more latest news and analysis from ABS-CBN News videos, click the link below: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgyY1WylJUmg4pcvfM9a96rbUcLD_0P_U For more News Digital News Raw Cuts, click the link below: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgyY1WylJUmi83yKJH8Dv0p_3D4cyZKzV Subscribe to the ABS-CBN News channel! - http://bit.ly/TheABSCBNNews Watch the full episodes of TV Patrol on iWantTFC: http://bit.ly/TVPatrol-iWantTFC Visit our website at http://news.abs-cbn.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/abscbnNEWS Twitter: https://twitter.com/abscbnnews #Exclusive #LatestNews #ABSCBNNews