Semper Fi · Franzese Family

3h ago (edited) in News

Semper Fi

IDF kills Hezbollah’s top commander, says he was overseeing plan for invasion of Galilee. Ibrahim Aqil was wanted dead or alive by US for attacks that killed hundreds of Americans in 1980s; 10 more of terror group’s military leadership also eliminated in the rare Beirut suburbs airstrike, as they met underground beneath a residential building.

At least 10 members of Hezbollah’s Radwan Force and operations division were killed in the strike, which Lebanese media reported was carried out by an Israeli F-35 fighter jet using two missiles.

“Aqil and the other Radwan Force commanders who we attacked are the ones who drew up the Hezbollah terror group’s plan to attack the northern territory of the State of Israel — what they called ‘The plan to conquer the Galilee'. In this upcoming planned invasion, Hezbollah intended to raid Israeli territory, occupy the farms and cities of the Galilee, and murder and kidnap Israeli citizens — similar to what Hamas did on October 7.”

The US government had accused Aqil of a leading role in the Beirut truck bombings at the American embassy in April 1983, which killed 63 people, including the chief of the CIA Near East station, and a US Marine barracks six months later that murdered 241 servicemen deployed on a peacekeeping mission. He was also wanted for directing the taking of American and German hostages in Lebanon during the 1980s. The US had previously placed a $7 million bounty on Aqil’s head.

White House spokesperson John Kirby said he was unaware of any Israeli heads-up regarding Friday’s strike. He stressed that the US wasn’t involved and was still working to avoid any further military escalation through diplomatic arrangements.

US special envoy Amos Hochstein told Israeli leaders during a visit earlier this week that launching a war against Hezbollah isn’t likely to secure Israel the conditions it is seeking to return its 80,000 evacuated residents to their homes near the northern border and argued that both sides will ultimately be pushed to agree to the same deal currently on the table after both suffering major losses.

US President Joe Biden told reporters at the start of a cabinet meeting that he wants to “make sure that the people in northern Israel as well as southern Lebanon are able to go back to their homes, to go back safely.”

An unnamed Israeli official told the Axios news site that after suffering nearly a year of constant attacks from Lebanon, Jerusalem had reached the conclusion any diplomatic solution would not be possible without a military escalation first, indicating Israel’s hope that this week’s targeted attacks, including the mass explosions of Hezbollah operatives' pagers and walkie-talkies that cost them thousands of casualties, will eventually coax Hezbollah to cease firing rockets, UAVs and anti-tank missiles into northern Israel and agree to pull back to the battle lines stipulated in the 2006 cease-fire arranged by the UN and supposedly guaranteed by its Security Council, including the US, UK, France and others.

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