Lebanon’s Hezbollah confirmed on Sunday (November 17) that its media handler, Mohammad Afif, was killed in an attack in the center of Beirut, Lebanon by Israel.
According to reports from Reuters, the Israeli military initially refused to comment earlier on Sunday but later released a statement claiming that Afif had been “eliminated.” The Lebanese Health Ministry stated that the attack resulted in one fatality and three injuries.
Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV reported that Israel launched another attack later on Sunday evening, with the Lebanese Health Ministry stating that this attack resulted in at least two deaths and 22 injuries.
Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in conflict for over a year now. On October 7, 2023, the Palestinian extremist group Hamas launched an attack on Israel, triggering the Gaza War. Hezbollah, their ally, began firing rockets at Israel the next day, claiming to support Hamas.
In late September of this year, Israel expanded its military operations against Hezbollah, conducting intense bombings in southern Lebanon, the east, and the southern outskirts of the capital Beirut, as well as launching ground attacks on the country’s border regions.
Sources within Lebanon’s security forces informed Reuters that Israel targeted a building housing the Syrian Ba’ath Party office in Lebanon. The head of the Ba’ath Party in Lebanon, Ali Hijazi, told Lebanon’s Al-Jadeed broadcasting company that Afif was inside the building at the time.
A video aired by the Lebanese broadcasting company showed the upper floor of a building collapsed, with civil defense personnel at the scene.
Afif had long served as a media consultant to Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah. Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the southern outskirts of Beirut on September 27.
Prior to taking over Hezbollah’s media office, Afif managed the Al-Manar TV station for several years.
He also hosted several press conferences amidst the ruins in the southern outskirts of Beirut.