Senior Hezbollah commander killed in Beirut strike, says Israeli military

Jerusalem: The Israeli military said Tuesday it had killed a senior Hezbollah commander in a strike on Beirut, a day after the one-year anniversary of the October 7 attack was marked by mourning and demonstrations around the globe.

The military said the strike killed Suhail Husseini, who it said was responsible for overseeing logistics, budget and management of the militant group.

Palestinian militants in Gaza fired a barrage of rockets into Israel on Monday, underscoring militants’ resilience in the face of a devastating Israeli offensive in Gaza that has killed about 42,000 Palestinians, according to local medical officials, destroyed large areas and displaced around 90 per cent of its population.

A year ago, Hamas-led militants blew holes in Israel’s security fence and stormed into army bases and farming communities, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. They are still holding about 100 captives inside Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Israel is now at war with Hamas in Gaza and its ally Hezbollah in Lebanon, which began firing rockets at Israel on October 8, 2023.

On Monday, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said an Israeli strike in the country’s south, part of a wider bombardment, killed at least 10 firefighters. Hezbollah fired new barrages despite its recent losses.

The Israeli military said a reserve division has begun limited operations against Hezbollah in southwestern Lebanon, in an apparent widening of its ground incursion.

The military said Tuesday that the 146th Division is the first reserve division to enter Lebanon since it launched ground operations just inside the border last week.

The announcement came a day after the Israeli military warned residents to evacuate from over a dozen towns and villages in southwestern Lebanon, including the coastal town of Naqoura, where UN peacekeepers are headquartered.

Israel has called on people to evacuate several dozen communities across southern Lebanon, many of them north of a UN-declared buffer zone established after the Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006.

Israel says its operations are aimed at halting a year of Hezbollah rocket attacks so that tens of thousands of its citizens can return to their homes in the north. Hezbollah has vowed to keep up the attacks until there is a cease-fire in Gaza.

The fighting, which escalated in mid-September, has displaced over 1 million Lebanese.

The UN special coordinator for Lebanon and the head of the peacekeeping force deployed along the border with Israel said that a negotiated solution is the only way to restore stability and the time to act is now.

The statement by Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert and Lt. Gen. Aroldo Lazaro of the UN peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL came

on the first anniversary of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group starting attacks on Israeli military posts along the border in support of its Hamas allies in the Gaza Strip.