Hezbollah leaders gather for funeral of terror commander

Hezbollah leaders gathered for the funeral of a terror commander who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut on Friday.

The funeral of Ibrahim Aqil, the head of Hezbollah's military operations and acting commander of the Radwan Force took place on Sunday after he was killed in a blast said to have left 37 dead, including three children and 15 other commanders.

Images from the procession that was held in the southern suburb of Dahieh in Beirut, show hundreds of attendees, many wearing military uniforms and carrying the flag of the Iran-backed military group. The funeral of Hezbollah member Mahmoud Hamad was also taking place at the same time.

Supporters could be seen carrying the assassinated leader's photo, as well as Palestinian, Iranian, and Lebanese flags while a song about 'being martyred on the way of Jerusalem' played in the background.

A statement by the Israel Defence Forces said Aqil, who was in his early 60s, had died alongside other Radwan commanders ­during a meeting being held in an underground bunker. 

Aqil was initially injured in the pager explosions on Tuesday and had been discharged from hospital earlier on Friday, before being killed in the Friday strike.

On Tuesday and Wednesday this week, pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members exploded simultaneously, killing 39 people and wounding thousands in Lebanon. 

That was before an air strike killed Aqil and other Hezbollah members, along with 32 civilians, on Friday.

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Israel has only taken responsibility for the air strike, but earlier today, Israeli President Isaac Herzog denied any involvement in the pager attacks.

Speaking on Sky News on Sunday morning, Herzog warned that Israel is in a 'dangerous situation' and that there is 'clearly the potential of escalating dramatically'.

Israel had made no comments regarding their involvement in the fatal attacks before this morning, where the president said he 'rejects out of hand any connection to this or that source of operation'.

'There are many enemies of Hezbollah out there, quite a few these days. Hezbollah has been choking Lebanon, destroying Lebanon, creating havoc in Lebanon again and again and again. We are here simply to defend ourselves. That's all we do,' he added.

Aqil, the career terrorist and close confidant of Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader, had a £5million bounty on his head for his role in the 1983 bomb attack on the US embassy in Beirut that killed 63.

He was also involved in the twin bombing attacks on the US Marine barracks in Lebanon the same year that killed 241 US personnel and 307 people in total.

Commenting at the Israeli-American Council's conference in Washington, US Middle East tsar Brett McGurk said: 'Ibrahim Aqil was responsible for the Beirut embassy bombing 40 years ago, so nobody sheds a tear for him.'

During Aqil's funeral, Hezbollah's deputy leader, Naim Qassem, who was spotted sitting in the front row during the funeral said the force had entered a new phase of its battle with Israel, warning: 'But as we are pained, you will also be pained'.

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Qassem vowed the ongoing conflict will destroy Israel's economy and told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he will not achieve his goals.

The deputy leader said Hezbollah, which has lost several senior military leaders in recent months, has 'returned stronger, and the frontline will witness this'.

Qassem described Aqil as a commander of operations who founded the Radwan Unit, emphasizing that he was a martyr for Jerusalem and Palestine.

He highlighted that 'Israel's attack on Radwan leaders aimed to cripple the resistance and incite hostility within its environment, seeking to halt support for Gaza and to return northern residents.'

Hezbollah described him as one of its 'great jihadist leaders'. 

The funeral comes after Israel and Lebanon exchanged heavy fire overnight as the IDF vowed to intensify its strikes against Hezbollah targets.

The Israeli military said it struck around 290 targets on Saturday including thousands of Hezbollah rocket launcher barrels, with the country closing down its schools and restricting gatherings in many northern areas of the country early on Sunday. 

Dozens of fighter jets started 'extensively' striking southern Lebanon 'following detection of Hezbollah preparing to fire toward Israeli territory', IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said.

Before the evening Israeli strikes began, the IDF said earlier it had destroyed 'about 180 sites and thousands of [rocket] launcher barrels' with strikes.

The Israeli army said more than 100 projectiles were fired from Lebanon early Sunday morning, adding fire services were working to put out blazes sparked by falling munitions. 

Israeli media reported that a number of buildings were hit directly or by falling missile debris, and ambulance services said they treated some lightly injured people - no serious casualties were reported.

Hezbollah said it targeted the Israeli Ramat David Airbase with dozens of missiles in response to 'repeated Israeli attacks on Lebanon', the group posted on its Telegram channel early on Sunday.