BEIRUT: The toll from an Israeli air strike targeting Hezbollah military leaders in a Beirut building rose to 31 dead Saturday, Lebanon's health minister said, with three children among those killed.
"The toll has risen to 31 dead," Firass Abiad said, "among them three children and seven women". Friday's Israeli strike targeted a meeting of commanders of Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force, killing 16 of them.
Hezbollah in disarray
Hezbollah said Saturday that a second senior commander was among 16 fighters killed in an Israeli air strike on its Beirut stronghold the previous day, highlighting the scale of the blow to its military leadership.
Israel said Friday's strike on the southern suburbs of Lebanon's capital killed the head of Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force, Ibrahim Aqil, and several other commanders.
Coming hot on the heels of sabotage attacks on communications devices this week that killed 37 people in Hezbollah strongholds, the strike raised new questions about the Iran-backed group's security arrangements and dealt a heavy blow to its fighters' morale.
Hezbollah named the second commander as Ahmed Mahmud Wahbi, saying he had headed the group's operations against Israel from the onset of the Gaza war in October until the start of this year.
Confirming the death of Aqil, who was wanted by the United States for involvement in the 1983 bombing of the US embassy in Beirut, Hezbollah hailed him as "one of its great leaders".
