UPDATE – At least 6 killed in Israeli strike targeting Hezbollah commander in Beirut

UPDATES DEATH TOLL, ADDS DETAILS, CHANGES HEADLINE DECK

By Abdelraouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) – At least six people were killed and 15 others injured in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut’s southern suburb on Tuesday, the Lebanese Health Ministry said.

State media said the strike targeted a 6-story residential building in the municipality of Ghobeiry in the southern suburb of the Lebanese capital.

Israeli media said the attack targeted Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Qabisi, who it called the head of the group’s missile system.

His fate remains unknown after the Israeli strike.

The attack was the third to have targeted the southern suburb of Beirut in five days.

On Friday, an Israeli strike in the same area killed at least 55 people, including children and women, and injured 68 others, according to figures released by the Lebanese Health Ministry.
Prominent Hezbollah leader Ibrahim Aqil was among those killed in the attack.

The Israeli army has launched waves of deadly airstrikes on Lebanon since Monday morning, killing at least 558 people, including 95 women and 50 children, and injuring 1,835 others, Health Minister Firas Abiad said.

"The majority of the victims in the Israeli attacks since Monday morning are defenseless civilians in their homes. This refutes the enemy's allegations of targeting fighters," the minister stressed.

Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza, which has killed over 41,400 people, mostly women and children, following a cross-border attack by Hamas last Oct. 7.

The international community has warned against the Israeli strikes on Lebanon, as they raise the specter of spreading the Gaza conflict regionally.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala