Israeli forces killed Hezbollah’s media relations chief Mohammad Afif in a rare strike on central Beirut Sunday, while a separate Israeli attack in southern Lebanon killed two Lebanese soldiers, marking a significant escalation in the year-long cross-border conflict.
Israel’s military confirmed late Sunday it had “eliminated” Afif in the strike on Beirut’s Ras al-Nabaa neighborhood, an area where many Lebanese displaced by earlier bombardments had sought refuge. The Lebanese health ministry reported one death and three injuries from the attack, which targeted a building housing Ba’ath Party offices.
A second Israeli strike hit Mar Elias street, another usually untargeted central area, killing at least two people and wounding 22 others, according to the health ministry and Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV.
The attacks represent an unusual expansion of Israeli operations into central Beirut, as strikes typically focus on the city’s southern suburbs where Hezbollah maintains its strongest presence. The targeting of Afif, who managed Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television station and served as media adviser to the group’s leadership, also marks a rare strike against a Hezbollah official without clear military duties.
In southern Lebanon, an Israeli attack on an army post in the town of Al-Mari killed two Lebanese soldiers and wounded two others, the Lebanese army announced on social media platform X, highlighting the growing toll on Lebanon’s military forces.
The escalating violence has claimed 3,841 lives in Lebanon and wounded nearly 15,000 since October 2023, according to the Lebanese health ministry, though these figures don’t distinguish between civilian and militant casualties. The conflict began when Hezbollah launched rockets at Israeli military targets following Hamas’s attack on southern Israel, which killed approximately 1,200 people.
Afif, who had recently hosted press conferences among bombed buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs, maintained in his last public appearance on November 11 that Israeli forces had failed to hold Lebanese territory and that Hezbollah possessed sufficient weaponry for prolonged warfare.
The broader regional conflict has seen Israel’s extensive military campaign in Gaza kill more than 43,000 people, mostly civilians, according to Palestinian health officials, while Hezbollah’s rocket attacks have killed dozens of Israelis, including both soldiers and civilians.
The strikes in central Beirut sparked immediate response from emergency services, with ambulances rushing to the scene as security forces worked to control gathering crowds. Video footage from Lebanese broadcasters showed severe damage to the upper floors of the targeted building, with civil defense workers conducting rescue operations.
