IDF Reports Killing of Hezbollah Spokesperson in Beirut Airstrike
The senior operative ‘wielded significant influence’ on the terrorist group’s military operations and ‘incited’ attacks, the Israel Defense Forces said.
Hezbollah’s chief spokesman was killed in a recent airstrike on Beirut, the capital city of Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Monday.
The IDF said its air force carried out a “precise, intelligence-based strike” on Nov. 17, killing Mohammed Afif, whom it identified as the Iranian-backed terrorist group’s chief spokesman and senior military operative.
The Lebanon-based Hezbollah also confirmed that Afif was killed in an Israeli air raid, according to a statement carried by Hezbollah’s media outlet.
The IDF said Afif “wielded significant influence” on Hezbollah’s military operations, saying that he “glorified” and “incited” terrorist attacks against Israel through his messages on Lebanese media.
Afif received orders from Hezbollah’s senior military commanders about the group’s involvement in the Oct. 19 drone attack on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s house in Caesarea, Israel, the IDF said.
The Israeli leader and his family were not at home during the attack, for which Hezbollah had claimed responsibility.
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Afif was also responsible for “numerous psychological terror” operations against Israeli people, according to the Israeli military. It stated that Afif had joined the terrorist group in the 1980s.
It is unclear exactly where Afif was killed. The Lebanese Health Ministry said that at least four people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut’s Ras al-Naba’a on Sunday.
The Israeli military launched another airstrike on Beirut’s Mar Elias Street, killing at least two people and injuring 20 others, according to the ministry.
The IDF said its air force on Nov. 16 had struck “Hezbollah terrorist targets” in Dahieh, a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut, and that residents had been warned to leave the area before the strike.
