An Israeli attack on a building in a densely populated district of Beirut killed Hezbollah’s head of media relations, Mohammad Afif, on Sunday, two Lebanese security sources told Reuters, although there was no immediate confirmation. of Hezbollah.
The Israeli army declined to answer questions from Reuters.
According to the spokesperson’s post on social media platform X, there was no evacuation order for the area before the attack.
The attack hit the Ras al-Nabaa neighborhood, where many people displaced from the suburbs by Israeli bombing were seeking refuge.
Security sources also reported that they struck a building where the Ba’ath Party offices are located, and the party’s head in Lebanon, Ali Hijazi, told Lebanese broadcaster Al-Jadeed that Afif was in the building.
The broadcaster later declared that Afif had been killed.
Images were shown of a building whose upper floors collapsed onto the first floor, with civil defense workers at the scene.
Hezbollah media chief
Afif was a longtime media adviser to former Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital on September 27.
The aide ran Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television station for several years before taking over the Iranian-backed group’s media relations office.
have been exchanging fire for more than a year, since the group began firing rockets at Israeli military targets on October 8, 2023, the day after its Palestinian ally Hamas carried out a deadly attack in southern Israel.
In late September, Israel dramatically intensified and expanded its military campaign in Lebanon, heavily bombing the south, east, and southern suburbs of Beirut, along with ground incursions along the border.
Afif organized several press conferences for journalists amid the rubble in
In his most recent comments to reporters, on November 11, he declared that Israeli troops had failed to occupy any territory in Lebanon and that Hezbollah had enough weapons and supplies to fight a “long war.”
The said the attack killed one person and injured three.
Ambulances could be heard rushing to the scene, and bursts of gunfire rang out to prevent crowds from approaching the area.
