JERUSALEM: About 10 senior Hezbollah commanders were killed along with Ibrahim Aqil, leader of the movement’s Radwan special forces unit who was attacked in an Israeli air strike in Beirut on Friday, Israel’s military spokesperson said.
“This elimination is intended to protect the citizens of Israel,” he said in a brief statement to the press, adding that Israel was not seeking regional escalation.
Earlier, Hezbollah vowed to retaliate following the pager blasts its strongholds that claimed more than 20 lives and wounded over 3000.
Hezbollah switched to using pagers in recent months in an effort to avoid Israeli tracking of their locations. Explosives were hidden in the Gold Apollo pagers next to the battery. They were configured to be triggered remotely to detonate. Two Hezbollah fighters were also injured in Syria, where blasts occurred simultaneously.