An Israeli strike in Beirut on Friday targeted senior Hezbollah figure Ibrahim Aqil, sources confirmed to Al Arabiya.
Aqil was one of the principal members of Hezbollah’s Islamic Jihad Organization, which was behind the 1983 US Embassy in Beirut bombing and the US Marine Barracks bombing later that year.
Earlier, the Israeli military said it had carried out a targeted strike in Beirut on Friday which security sources in Lebanon said had hit near key Hezbollah facilities in the southern suburbs of the city, marking a sharp escalation of the conflict between the sides.
Witnesses heard a blast in Beirut’s Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs and smoke was seen rising over the area.
Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV said the southern suburbs, known as the Dahiyeh, had been subjected to an act of aggression and reported that one person had been killed and 14 wounded, saying this was a preliminary toll.
Ignited by the Gaza war, the conflict has intensified significantly this week, with Hezbollah suffering an unprecedented attack in which pagers and walkie talkies used by its members exploded, killing 37 people and wounding thousands.