The Hezbollah commander killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut’s southern suburbs was one of the Lebanese militant group’s top military officials
The Hezbollah commander killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut’s southern suburbs Friday was one of the Lebanese militant group’s top military officials, in charge of its elite forces, and had been on Washington’s wanted list for years.
Ibrahim Akil, 61, was the second top commander of Hezbollah to be killed in an Israeli airstrike in the southern suburb of Beirut in as many months, dealing a severe blow to the group’s command structure.
The strike Friday came as the group was still reeling from a widely suspected Israeli attack targeting Hezbollah communications earlier this week when thousands of pagers exploded simultaneously. The attack killed 12 people, mostly Hezbollah members, and injured thousands.
Akil was a member of Hezbollah’s highest military body, the Jihad Council since 2008, and head of the elite Radwan Forces. The forces also fought in Syria gaining experience in urban warfare and counterinsurgency. Israel has been attempting to push the fighters back from the border.
Israel said the Friday strike on Beirut’s southern Dahiya district killed Akil and 10 other Hezbollah operatives.
Little is known about Akil, who rose through the ranks of the group’s military command over decades. Born in Baalbek in the east of Lebanon, he joined Hezbollah in its early days in the 1980s.
Elijah Magnier, a Brussels-based military and counterterrorism analyst with knowledge of the group, said he was one of the group’s old guard.
“He started at the beginning of Hezbollah’s creation, and he moved to different responsibilities. To be a member of the Jihadi Council, this is the highest (post), and to be the leader of the Radwan Forces is also very privileged,” Magnier said.
Akil was under U.S. sanctions and in 2023, the U.S. State Department announced a reward of up to $7 million for information leading to his “identification, location, arrest, and/or conviction.
