Hezbollah’s top commander Ibrahim Aqil, alongside two others, were killed in a strike, carried out by Israel. The strikes took place in Lebanon’s capital city of Beirut and its southern suburbs on Friday (Sep 20) evening, dealing a huge blow to the militant outfit whose chief, Nasrallah had vowed revenge against Israel, only a day before in a televised address.
Aqil was the second-in-command of Hezbollah’s armed forces, behind Fuad Shukr who was also killed in an Israeli strike in July.
Who was Ibrahim Aqil?
Ibrahim Aqil, also known as Tahsin, served in Hezbollah’s highest military body, the Jihad Council. He also led the elite Radwan Force, the outfit’s top military unit.
Formed after the 2006 Second Lebanon War, the Radwan Force was created to bolster Hezbollah’s offensive capabilities. The unit is primarily responsible for ground warfare, including high-risk missions such as infiltrating the Israeli territory.
In the 1980s, he was a principal member of Hezbollah’s terrorist cell the Islamic Jihad Organisation, which claimed responsibility for the bombings of the US embassy in Beirut in April 1983, which killed 63 people, and the U.S. Marine Corps barracks in October 1983, which killed 241 US personnel.
In July 2015, the US Department of the Treasury listed Aqil as a Specially Designated National, for acting for or on behalf of Hezbollah.
In April last year, on the 40th anniversary of the attack on the US embassy, Washington put a reward of $7 million on Aqil’s head.
