Senior Hezbollah official survives Israeli assassination attempt

However, fresh Israeli air strikes there have killed 22 people and the United Nations says its peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon is in increasing danger.

Wafiq Safa, head of Hezbollah's liaison and coordination unit responsible for working with Lebanese security agencies, was targeted by Israel on Thursday night but survived, security sources said.

The site of an Israeli airstrike in Ras Al-Nabaa, in Beirut, Lebanon, October 10, 2024. Photo: Reuters

Earlier on Thursday, a Lebanese security source told Reuters that Israeli air strikes in central Beirut had targeted at least one senior Hezbollah official.

The Israeli airstrikes hit a densely populated residential area of ​​apartment buildings and shops in central Beirut. Israel had never previously attacked this area, far from the southern suburbs of Beirut where Hezbollah’s headquarters have been repeatedly bombed by Israel.

The death toll has been rising rapidly, with Lebanon’s Health Ministry reporting 22 dead and 117 wounded on Thursday. Among the dead was a family of eight, including three children, who had been evacuated from southern Lebanon, according to a security source.

After Israel killed a series of senior Hezbollah officials in recent weeks, including leader Hassan Nasrallah, Safa is one of the few senior figures left alive as the group's leadership struggles to reorganize.

Safa, who Middle Eastern media reported was born in 1960, oversaw negotiations that led to a 2008 deal in which Hezbollah exchanged the bodies of Israeli soldiers captured in 2006 for Lebanese prisoners in Israel. The 2006 incident sparked a 34-day war with Israel.

Meanwhile, the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, said two of its staff were wounded when an Israeli tank fired on a watchtower on Thursday at its headquarters in Ras al-Naqoura.

The safety and security of more than 10,400 UN peacekeepers in Lebanon is “increasingly threatened” and operations have been virtually halted since late September, UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix told the Security Council. UNIFIL called the attacks on peacekeepers “a serious violation of international humanitarian law”.

Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 2,169 people in Lebanon over the past year, the Lebanese government said in its daily update. The majority have died since September 27, when Israel expanded its military campaign.

According to Israeli authorities, Hezbollah's cross-border attacks on Israel killed 53 people during the same period.

Hoang Anh (according to Reuters, AJ)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/israel-lai-am-sat-quan-chuc-hezbollah-luc-luong-lien-hop-quoc-ngay-cang-gap-nguy-hiem-post316252.html