The IDF conducted a targeted strike on Radwan Force commander and head of Hezbollah Operations Ibrahim Aqil in Beirut, Lebanon, on Friday, killing the high-ranking terrorist.
Hezbollah later confirmed that an Israeli strike killed Aqil.
Including Aqil, some sixteen senior Hezbollah commanders were eliminated in the strike, the terror group confirmed the following day. Security sources told Reuters that other members of Hezbollah's Radwan Force were killed when the Israeli strike hit a meeting they were attending.
Hezbollah-run publication Al-Manar claimed that more than one strike targeted southern Beirut. Lebanese media placed the strike site in the Al-Qaim neighborhood of Beirut.
The Lebanese Health Ministry claimed that 12 had been killed in the strike and that another 66 were wounded, nine of whom were in critical condition.
Initially, Reuters reported that a thick cloud of smoke was seen climbing over the Lebanese capital, adding that residents of the city's southern suburbs reported hearing a blast.
Israeli and foreign media reported that the meeting was between Palestinian and Hezbollah officials. The Jerusalem Post was not able to confirm the report at this time.
The strike follows massive Hezbollah rocket attacks on northern Israel overnight between Thursday and Friday, during which some 50 homes in the Israeli border community of Metulla were reportedly damaged. Additionally, rocket falls and shrapnel sparked fires across several locations in the North.
The IDF noted that the Home Front Command's defensive guidelines for Israeli residents, notably those in northern Israel, are currently unchanged.
"We are in a new phase of the war and continue to pursue Hezbollah," an Israeli official told Ynet after the strike. "We are preparing for a response. Everything is on the table."
Rocket sirens sound in North after strike in southern Lebanon
Roughly an hour after the strike, drone intrusion sirens sounded across northern Israel, including the cities of Safed and Kiryat Shmona.
Previously, on January 2, the IDF killed Wissam al-Tawil, known as Jawad, a key Radwan operations commander in southern Lebanon. Akil was Jawil's commander.