Hezbollah commander killed in Israeli military strike on Beirut [Video]

BEIRUT/JERUSALEM –

Israel killed a top Hezbollah commander and other senior figures in the Lebanese movement in an airstrike on Beirut on Friday, vowing to press on with a new military campaign until it is able to secure the area around the Lebanese border.

The Israeli military and a security source in Lebanon said Ibrahim Aqil had been killed with other senior members of an elite Hezbollah unit in the airstrike, sharply escalating the year-long conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed group.

Hezbollah confirmed Aqil’s death in a statement just after midnight that called him “one of its top leaders,” without providing details of how he died.

Lebanon’s health ministry said at least 14 people died in the strike and the toll was expected to climb as rescue teams worked through the night. It was not immediately known whether the toll included Aqil and the other Hezbollah commanders.

Earlier, the ministry said …