Israel killed Hezbollah missile commander Ibraham al-Kubaisi in an airstrike on the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiya on Tuesday, in an attack that was apparently confirmed by Lebanese sources.
Reuters reported:
An Israeli airstrike on the southern suburbs of Beirut on Tuesday killed a Hezbollah commander who was a leading figure in its rocket division, two security sources in Lebanon said, as fears of a full-fledged war in the Middle East mounted.
The sources identified the commander who was killed as Ibrahim Qubaisi. The attack, in which six people were killed, dealt another blow to the Iran-backed group which has faced a series of setbacks at the hands of Israel over the past week.
Israel has been targeting senior members of Hezbollah for several days, eliminating many of leader Hassan Nasrallah’s lieutenants.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi vowed Tuesday that Israel would not give Hezbollah a break from attack, as Israeli airstrikes were said to reach 1,600 in a single day.
Israel is seeking to push Hezbollah back from the Israeli border, allowing the evacuated residents of northern Israel both Jewish and Arab, to return to the homes they were forced to leave when Hezbollah opened fire last October.
Hezbollah is occupying southern Lebanon illegally.
Update: The Times of Israel reports that the IDF said that Kubaisi (or Qubaisi) was responsible for the kidnapping and murder of three soldiers in 2000: Staff Sgt. Benyamin Avraham, Staff Sgt. Adi Avitan, and Staff Sgt. Omar Sawaid.
Update: Hezbollah has confirmed Qubaisi’s death, as per the Times of Israel.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.