Israel eliminated Hezbollah’s propaganda chief Mohammad Afif in a Beirut airstrike, Reuters reported Sunday.
“An Israeli strike on a building in a densely populated district of 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,” the news agency reported.
Afif, the public face of Hezbollah after terror chief Hassan Nasrallah’s death, took responsibility for the assassination attempt on the life of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after a drone struck his private residence on October 19. Hezbollah “declares its full, complete and exclusive responsibility for the Caesarea operation targeting … Netanyahu”, Afif boasted following the strike.
The newspaper Israel Hayom reported Afif’s elimination:
The report, based on sources within Hezbollah in Lebanon, indicated that Afif was killed in a strike targeting an underground facility in Beirut’s southern suburb and Hezbollah stronghold, Dahiyeh.Last week, Afif spoke with the Iranian news agency Tasnim and boasted about Hezbollah’s military achievements. He claimed that the IDF had withdrawn from operations in Lebanon, stating, “The Zionist regime’s retreat from southern Lebanon is a sign of its weakness.”Following this, Afif accused Israel of psychological retaliation, alleging, “After this failure, the Zionists tried to take revenge psychologically for their defeat by bombing residential areas like Dahiyeh,” despite substantial evidence of fighting within southern Lebanon.Afif continued his statements, asserting, “We witnessed the failure and incapacity of the Israeli military over the past week, particularly during clashes in Khiam, in southern Lebanon.”
His deputy and members of Hezbollah’s propaganda operation were also eliminated in Sunday’s airstrike, reports suggest.
Afif, a close confidant of Hezbollah’s former chief Hassan Nasrallah, had taken a prominent role in the terrorist group in recent months. “Afif had remained especially visible after the eruption of all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah in September and the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah,” the Associated Press noted.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) did not comment on the killing of the top Hezbollah propagandist, news reports say.
The IDF has reportedly made deep inroads into Hezbollah-held southern Lebanon. Israeli troops reached the “deepest point” in Lebanon since the group operations began in early October, the Associated Press reported Sunday, citing Lebanese sources.
AP News reported:
Israeli ground forces reached their deepest point in Lebanon since they invaded six weeks ago before pulling back Saturday after battles with Hezbollah militants, Lebanese state media reported.The clashes and further Israeli bombardment came as Lebanese and Hezbollah officials study a draft proposal presented by the U.S. on ending the war.Israeli troops briefly captured a strategic hill in the southern village of Chamaa, about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the border, the state-run National News Agency reported. It said Israeli troops blew up the Shrine of Shimon the Prophet in Chamaa as well as several homes, but that could not be verified.
Israel’s hunt for Hezbollah leadership appears to be in full swing, with IDF conducting waves of airstrikes on the terrorist stronghold of Dahieh, a southern suburb of Lebanese capital Beirut. “Earlier this evening, the IAF conducted its fourth round of intelligence-based strikes on Hezbollah command centers in the Dahieh area, a key Hezbollah terrorist stronghold in Beirut,” the IDF disclosed.
“Over the past week, the IDF struck approximately 50 terror targets in the Dahieh area, from where the Hezbollah terrorist organization continues to plan and carry out terror attacks against the State of Israel,” the Israel military confirmed late Saturday.
The IDF, on Sunday, confirmed a fifth wave of airstrikes on the Hezbollah bastion. “A short while ago, the IAF conducted intelligence-based strikes on Hezbollah command centers and additional terrorist infrastructure in the Dahieh area, a key Hezbollah terrorist stronghold in Beirut,” the Israeli military said Sunday morning.
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