“Airstrike Reaches Downtown Beirut Without Prior Evacuation Order”
Mohammad Afif, Hezbollah’s Chief Spokesperson
[AP Yonhap News File Photo. Redistribution and Database Use Prohibited]
(Berlin = Yonhap News) Correspondent Kim Gye-yeon reports that Mohammad Afif, the chief spokesperson of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, was killed in an airstrike by the Israeli military on the 17th (local time), according to AP news.
A Hezbollah official, who requested anonymity, stated that Afif died in the airstrike on Beirut, Lebanon, that day.
The Israeli military targeted the Ras al-Nabaa area in the city center, rather than the southern suburbs of Beirut, a major Hezbollah stronghold. Notably, they did not issue a prior evacuation order, as reported by the Israeli media outlet Times of Israel.
The Israeli military did not comment on the airstrike that day.
On the 22nd of last month, the Israeli military had previously disrupted a press conference by Afif through an airstrike on Dahiya, a southern suburb of Beirut.
Afif was a close associate of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in a bombing at the end of September. He managed Hezbollah’s own broadcasting station, Al-Manar TV, in the past.
In a press conference on the 11th, Afif claimed that the Israeli military had not occupied Lebanese territory and that Hezbollah possessed enough weapons and equipment for a prolonged conflict.
dada@yna.co.kr