Israeli strike on Beirut kills Hezbollah media head, security sources say

BEIRUT (Reuters) -An Israeli strike on a building in central Beirut on Sunday killed Hezbollah’s media relations chief Mohammad Afif, two Lebanese security sources told Reuters, though there was no immediate confirmation from Hezbollah.

Israel has rarely hit senior Hezbollah personnel who do not have clear military roles, and its air strikes have mostly targeted Beirut’s southern suburbs where Hezbollah has its heaviest presence.

The Israeli military declined to comment in response to questions from Reuters. An Israeli military spokesperson’s account on the social media platform X that often publishes evacuation orders for areas about to be bombed showed no such warning before this strike.

Hezbollah and Israel have been trading fire for more than a year, since the Iran-backed group began launching rockets at Israeli military targets on Oct. 8, 2023, a day after its Palestinian ally Hamas carried out a deadly attack on southern Israel.

In late September, Israel dramatically expanded its military campaign in Lebanon, heavily bombing the south and east and the southern suburbs of Beirut alongside ground incursions along the border.

In addition to targeting Hezbollah, the escalation has killed several soldiers of the Lebanese military, including two who died on Sunday when Israel attacked an army post in the southern town of Al-Mari, the Lebanese army said on X. Two other soldiers were wounded, it said.

ADVISER TO NASRALLAH HOSTED PRESS CONFERENCES IN BEIRUT, 

The strike on Beirut hit the Ras al-Nabaa neighbourhood, where many people displaced from the southern suburbs by Israeli bombardment had sought refuge. 

The security sources said a building housing offices of the Ba’ath Party had been hit, and the head of the party in Lebanon, Ali Hijazi, told the Lebanese broadcaster Al-Jadeed that Afif had been in the building.

The Syrian Social Nationalist Party, another political party with ties to Hezbollah, said in a statement that Afif had been killed but gave no details of how or where. The Lebanese health ministry said the strike had killed one and injured three.

Ambulances could be heard rushing to the scene, and guns were fired to prevent crowds approaching.

The broadcaster later also said Afif had been killed. It showed footage of a building whose upper floors had collapsed onto the first storey, with civil defence workers at the scene.

Afif was a long-time media adviser to Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli air attack on the southern suburbs of Beirut on Sept. 27. 

He managed Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television station for several years before taking over the group’s media office.

Afif hosted several press conferences for journalists amid the rubble in Beirut’s southern suburbs. In his most recent comments to reporters on Nov. 11, he said Israeli troops had been unable to hold any territory in Lebanon, and that Hezbollah had enough weapons and supplies to fight a long war.