BEIRUT (Reuters/AP) - An Israeli strike on a building in central Beirut on Sunday killed Hezbollah's media relations chief Mohammad Afif, two Lebanese security sources told Reuters, though there was no immediate confirmation from Hezbollah.
Israel has rarely hit senior Hezbollah personnel who do not have clear military roles, and its air strikes have mostly targeted Beirut's southern suburbs where Hezbollah has its heaviest presence.
The Israeli military declined to comment in response to questions from Reuters. An Israeli military spokesperson's account on the social media platform X that often publishes evacuation orders for areas about to be bombed showed no such warning before this strike.
Hezbollah and Israel have been trading fire for more than a year, since the Iran-backed group began launching rockets at Israeli military targets on Oct. 8, 2023, a day after its Palestinian ally Hamas carried out a deadly attack on southern Israel.
In late September, Israel dramatically expanded its military campaign in Lebanon, heavily bombing the south and east and the southern suburbs of Beirut alongside ground incursions along the border.
In addition to targeting Hezbollah, the escalation has killed several soldiers of the Lebanese military, including two who died on Sunday when Israel attacked an army post in the southern town of Al-Mari, the Lebanese army said on X. Two other soldiers were wounded, it said.
The strike on Beirut hit the Ras al-Nabaa neighbourhood, where many people displaced from the southern suburbs by Israeli bombardment had sought refuge.
The security sources said a building housing offices of the Ba'ath Party had been hit, and the head of the party in Lebanon, Ali Hijazi, told the Lebanese broadcaster Al-Jadeed that Afif had been in the building.
The Syrian Social Nationalist Party, another political party with ties to Hezbollah, said in a statement that Afif had been killed but gave no details of how or where. The Lebanese health ministry said the strike had killed one and injured three.
However, AP cited an anonymous Hezbollah official as confirming Afif's death, in a strike on a building in the Ras al-Nabaa neighborhood that housed the Lebanese branch of the Syrian Baath party.
Afif is the latest in a long line of Hezbollah officials killed since late September, when Israel began its heavy bombardment of what it says are Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon.
Before that, Israel and Hezbollah were engaged in prolonged cross-border exchanges over the Gaza war.
A CLOSE ASSOCIATE OF HASSAN NASRALLAH
Afif was a close associate of Hassan Nasrallah, the long-time Hezbollah chief who was killed in an Israeli strike in September.
For years, Afif was responsible for the Iran-backed militia's media relations, providing information to local and foreign journalists, often anonymously.
He joined Hezbollah at a young age and first came to prominence as information director for the group's TV channel Al-Manar when Hezbollah and Israel went to war in 2006.
After Nasrallah's killing, Afif held several press conferences in Beirut's southern suburbs, including one last month that had to be cut short due to the threat of an Israeli strike nearby.