INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
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
It was not immediately known whether the toll included Aqil and other Hezbollah commanders.Earlier, the ministry said at least 66 people
were injured, nine of whom were in critical condition.A second security source said at least six other Hezbollah commanders died when
several consecutive blasts at the time of the strike.In a brief statement carried by Israeli media, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said
the Israel-Lebanon border since Hezbollah began rocketing Israel in October in sympathy with Palestinians in the nearly year-old Israeli war
against Hamas in Gaza.Israel, which last fought an all-out war against Hezbollah 18 years ago, has said it will use force if necessary to
ensure its citizens can return to northern Israel.The Israeli military described Aqil as the acting commander of the Radwan special forces
unit, and said it had killed him along with around 10 other senior commanders as they met
of attacks in which pagers and walkie-talkies used by its members exploded, killing 37 people and wounding thousands
Those attacks were widely believed to have been carried out by Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement.Local
broadcasters showed groups of people gathered near the site, and reported they were searching for missing people, most of them children
States over his link to the deadly bombing of Marines in Lebanon in 1983, according to the U.S
State Department website.The Israeli military said Aqil had been head of Hezbollah operations since 2004 and was responsible for a plan to
launch a raid on northern Israel, similar to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct
media reported heavy rocket fire there.Hezbollah said it twice fired Katyusha rockets at what it described as the main intelligence
not aware of any Israeli notification to the United States before the Beirut strike, adding Americans were strongly urged not to travel to
Gaza war, has intensified significantly this week.On Thursday night, the Israeli military carried out its most intensive airstrikes in
southern Lebanon since the conflict erupted almost a year ago.The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah is the worst since they fought a war
Tens of thousands of people have had to leave homes on both sides of the border.While the conflict has largely been contained to areas at or
