Ibrahim Aqil was the second-in-command in Hezbollah’s military after Fuad Shukr
Israel on Friday said that it killed Ibrahim Aqil, the top commander of Hezbollah, in a strike in the Iran-backed group’s stronghold in Beirut.
Top Points About Ibrahim Aqil:
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Ibrahim Aqil headed Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force. He was reportedly attending a meeting with other commanders when he was killed.
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The Israeli military said it conducted a “targeted strike” against Aqil, which also killed around 10 other senior Radwan commanders.
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Hezbollah confirmed late Friday that Aqil had been killed by Israel, hailing him as “one of its great leaders”.
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According to reports, Aqil was the second-in-command in the group’s military after Fuad Shukr, who was also killed in an Israeli strike in Beirut on July 30.
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Like most of Hezbollah’s military leadership, little was known about Ibrahim Aqil, whom group members knew only by his nom de guerre Hajj Abdul Qader.
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His Radwan Force spearheaded Hezbollah’s ground operations and Israel has repeatedly demanded that its fighters be pushed away from the border.
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Aqil was wanted by the United States for involvement in the 1983 bombing of the US embassy in Beirut.
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The US had offered a $7 million reward for information on Aqil, describing him as a “principal member” of an organisation that claimed the 1983 embassy bombing, which killed 63 people.
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According to the US, Aqil was also involved in the hostage-taking of two Germans in the late 1980s and bombings in Paris in 1986.
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In 2015, the US Treasury sanctioned Aqil and Shukr as terrorists, and in 2019, the US State Department branded him a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist”.
The latest blow to Hezbollah came after thousands of its operatives’ pagers and walkie-talkies exploded over two days, killing 37 people and wounding thousands of others.
