Israeli fighter jets eliminated Hezbollah's drone unit chief Muhammad Hossein Sarur in precise strikes in the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Thursday, the IDF stated.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved the operation from onboard the Wing of Zion plane while en route to the US, the Prime Minister's Office stated.
The military noted that the jets operated under the direction of the Air Force and the Military Intelligence Directorate.
According to Israel's Army Radio, the attack targeted a specific floor of a multi-story building in Beirut's Dahieh, a southern suburb of the city known as a stronghold for the Lebanese terror organization.
The building in Beirut where Hezbollah's drone commander was targeted. https://t.co/Eqy5ufsVME pic.twitter.com/6wTShjTabz
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) September 26, 2024
The Lebanese Hezbollah-affiliated news outlet Al Mayadeen claimed four had been killed and others were wounded as a result of the strike.
Lebanese media reported three separate missiles hit the building.
According to the IDF, Sarur oversaw numerous drone and missile attacks on Israeli territory and, over the last few years, had been a project leader in drone production and had established drone production sites, a number of which were embedded in civilian structures in Beirut and other locations in Lebanon.
Sarur joined Hezbollah in 1980 and held numerous positions in the terror organization, including the commander of the "Aziz" Unit, the Radwan Force's surface-to-air missile unit, the military added.
He was also reportedly Hezbollah's representative to the Houthis in affairs related to the Yemeni terror group's air array.
Following reports of the strikes, rocket sirens sounded in the Israeli localities of Odem and El Rom in the northern Golan Heights. The IDF subsequently identified the sirens as false alarms.
The IDF report that it had struck Beirut came at 3:13 p.m. local time.
At 4:00 p.m., Hezbollah announced that, in addition to Beirut's southern suburbs, between 3:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m., Israel had struck targets in the Lebanese localities of Aita al-Jabal, Toul, Shahour, Houmin al-Fawqa, Mahrouna, Qana, Ainatha, Al-Tayri, the Ansariya-Adloun area, Taybeh, Armata, Majdal Silm, Al-Jumaijma, the Jabal al-Rayhan Heights, Mashghara, and Shaqra.
More rocket sirens shortly after that sounded in Israeli localities in the Upper Galilee, including Safed.
Israel's emergency medical service, Magen David Adom, stated that following the sirens that sounded in the North, no rocket strikes or casualties had thus far been reported.
Israeli state broadcaster KAN later noted that rocket strikes were reported on Mount Meron, and the IDF reported that it had identified around 40 rockets crossing into Israel from Lebanese territory.
The Beirut strike update follows a previous IDF statement noting that IDF's 7th Brigade troops completed a training exercise in preparation for combat in Lebanese territory.
The military also published photos it said showed tanks being moved from southern Israel to the North.
Previous strikes on Beirut
In a Tuesday strike on the Dahieh area of Beirut, Israel targeted and killed Hezbollah's rocket chief, Ibrahim Muhammad Kabisi. Before this, on Friday, the IDF eliminated Radwan Force commander and head of Hezbollah Operations, Ibrahim Aqil.
Including Aqil, some sixteen senior Hezbollah commanders were killed in the strike.
This is a developing story.
Yonah Jeremy Bob contributed to this report.