Israel-Hamas War: What happened on day 351?

The Lebanese terror organization Hezbollah announced on Saturday morning that Ahmad Mahmoud Wahabi, a senior commander in the group and part of the top command of the Radwan Force, was killed in the IDF airstrike in Beirut yesterday.

The strike targeted and killed Hezbollah Operations Division head and Radwan Force Commander Ibrahim Aqil, along with nearly a dozen other top commanders, including Wahabi.

Hezbollah later also confirmed the elimination of terrorists Muhammad Ahmad Reda, Muhammad Qasim al-Attar, Muhammad Ahmad Reda, Ahmad Samir Deeb, Abdullah Abbas Hijazi, Aref Ahmad al-Raz, Hassan Ali Hussein, Abbas Sami Muslimani, Hussein Ahmad Hadroj, Hassan Yousef Abdul Sater, Mahdi Muslim Jamoul, and Jihad Shafiq Khazal Khanafer.

The IDF attacked terror targets in Nuseirat, in the Gaza Strip, on Saturday morning, Israeli media reported.

Israel could go to war with Lebanon without international support as a result of the Israeli government's abandonment of the public information battlefield, former Israeli government spokesperson and international media advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Eylon Levy exasperatedly told The Jerusalem Post on Friday afternoon, just a few hours after news broke of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut. 

Levy, who was controversially removed from his position earlier this year, was preparing to speak on a panel about social media and Israel advocacy at the Israeli-American Council's national summit in Washington, D.C. 

Levy's a notable proponent for encouraging ordinary people to speak on behalf of Israel.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu summoned senior security officials as well as a handful of ministers at 10:00 p.m. local time on Friday for an urgent telephone consultation discussing the possibility of expanding the conflict against Hezbollah, Israeli state broadcaster KAN reported.

The consultation follows an Israeli strike on Beirut that killed Hezbollah Radwan Force and Operations Division commander Ibrahim Aqil, along with other high-ranking Hezbollah Operations commanders.

Israel on Friday stood firm on the need for a new and expanded phase of its almost year-long war with Hezbollah as the UN warned of catastrophe and the US called for diplomacy.

“Our goals are clear; our actions speak for themselves,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant also underscored that point in a separate statement, explaining, “We will continue pursuing our enemies in order to defend our citizens - even in the Dahieh in Beirut. 

“The series of operations in the new phase of the war will continue until we achieve our goal: ensuring the safe return of Israel’s northern communities to their homes,” Gallant stated.

"The Hezbollah commanders we eliminated today had been planning their 'October 7' on the northern border for years," IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said after the IDF eliminated Radwan Force Commander Ibrahim Aqil on Friday.

"We reached them, and we will reach anyone who threatens the security of Israel's citizens," Halevi added.

Another IDF official, spokesman Daniel Hagari, also confirmed Friday evening at a press conference the elimination of Aqil, Hezbollah's head of operations and the leader of the "Plan to Conquer the Galilee."

In his briefing, Hagari said: "The Hezbollah leaders who were eliminated were planning to carry out an operation in the north similar to that of October 7." He added that Aqil and the others who were eliminated had gathered underground and used civilians as human shields.

Hagari stated that as part of the plan, Hezbollah intended to invade Israel, capture Galilee settlements, and kidnap and murder Israeli civilians. "Aqil was responsible for anti-tank operations, facilitated attacks such as the one at the Megiddo Junction, attempted infiltrations into Israel, and was also responsible for the organization's attacks abroad," Hagari said. "He was a terrorist with much blood on his hands.

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah gives a televised address, Lebanon, September 19, 2024, in this screenshot taken from a video. (credit: Al-Manar TV via REUTERS)

"We are on high alert, both offensively and defensively, and we are monitoring all developments. At this stage, there are no changes to the Home Front Command guidelines," he went on to tell the Israeli public. "Nevertheless, continue to remain vigilant and alert. We are in a tense period. The IDF is fighting on multiple fronts, and our enemies will try to challenge us in these arenas." The spokesperson declined to comment on whether Nasrallah is also a target of the IDF.

A security source told Al Jazeera that the strike on Friday targeted 20 senior Radwan Force commanders who were meeting underground in a parking lot. According to the report, four missiles were fired at the building under which they were meeting, and the structure collapsed.

French President Emmanuel Macron accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of pushing the region into war during a conversation this week, , N12 reported on Friday.

With increasing tensions in the North, Macron called Netanyahu in an attempt to de-escalate the situation.

"You have a responsibility to prevent escalation. There is a diplomatic path. This is the moment to show leadership and responsibility. Your activity in the north is pushing the region to war," Macron told Netanyahu.

Netanyahu replied, "Instead of putting pressure on us, it's time for you to put pressure on Hezbollah. We will return our residents home. We made this decision this week, and we will implement it."

France convinced diplomacy is possible

A French diplomatic source stressed to N12, "We are still convinced that a diplomatic settlement in the north is possible if all parties take responsibility. The latest security developments are worrying because they feed a new escalation dynamic."

People and members of the military inspect the site of an Israeli strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, September 20, 2024. (credit: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

Jerusalem responded by saying that the French "will do what they still think they can in the diplomatic context. We will do what we must."

In government, they resented France's reprimanding position and were disappointed that France failed to exert influence on Hezbollah.

Additionally, France voted in favor of the Palestinian proposal put forward at the UN Assembly on Thursday, calling for sanctions and an arms embargo against the State of Israel.

The IDF strike that killed ten Radwan Force commanders, including Ibrahim Aqil, on Friday was during a meeting with 20 commanders from the Hezbollah special operations forces in a parking lot in the Dahieh neighborhood of Beirut.

The meeting comprised of the exact number of commanders was initially reported by Al Jazeera, which also reported that the meeting was in the second underground level of the parking lot and that the IDF strike was carried out with four missiles that caused the structure to collapse, reaching the floor where the meeting was taking place.

The entire meeting lasted only a few hours, according to Army Radio. This was not a long-planned assassination but rather the exploitation of an "operational opportunity" when intelligence came in about Aqil and the senior leaders gathering in an underground operational apartment.

Militias in Iraq have implemented advanced preventive strategies to thwart events similar to the explosions that occurred in Hezbollah's communications systems in Lebanon, according to Iran International.

The al-Sadr movement in Iraq, led by the influential Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, decided to cancel a mass rally planned for Baghdad following these developments, fearing the recurrence of similar scenarios.

The al-Sadr movement is a political-social movement of great weight in Iraq, known for its extraordinary ability to mobilize masses for protest actions and demonstrations.

Khatem al-Fartosi, the official spokesman for the Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada Brigades, said that "despite the substantial difference in circumstances between Iraq and Lebanon, the resistance groups will implement comprehensive and targeted precautions to prevent the recurrence of incidents of this type."

IRGC calls for increased security

Mohsen Rafighdoost, who previously served as a senior commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) during the Iran-Iraq War, revealed that following the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, elite teams in the IRGC and the Intelligence Ministry devoted a lot of effort to developing sophisticated assassination methods through infiltration of electronic equipment.

SHIA LEADER Muqtada al-Sadr delivers a televised speech in Najaf, Iraq, last month. (credit: ALAA AL-MARJANI/REUTERS)

Following the explosions in Lebanon, Iran ordered Nasrallah and a number of senior Iranian officials to refrain from using mobile phones until thorough and comprehensive security checks had been completed, according to the former IRGC commander.

Al-Hadath reported on Friday that one of the senior members of the Iraqi Hezbollah battalions had been assassinated on the road leading to Damascus airport.

Media outlets affiliated with the Syrian government reported an "airstrike aimed at vehicles on the Damascus International Airport road," noting that one man was killed and another was injured.