Thousands mourn at funeral for Hezbollah commanders killed in Israeli airstrike on Beirut suburb

(23 Sep 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Beirut, Lebanon - 22 September 2024
1. Various of Hezbollah members carrying coffins of the group’s commander Ibrahim Akil and Mahmoud Hamad
2. Close of supporters chanting
3. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Naim Kassem, Hezbollah’s deputy secretary general:
“The residents of the north will not return; rather, displacement will increase, and support will expand. The Israeli military solution only deepens Israel's predicament and that of the residents of the north, and it does not address their issues. So go to Gaza and stop the war.”
4. Mid of female supporters crying
5. Mid of supporters waving flags
6. Various of participants carrying the coffin towards Al Hawraa cemetery whilst chanting religious slogans in Arabic
STORYLINE:
Thousands of Hezbollah supporters attended the funeral of one of the group’s commanders who was killed on Friday in an Israeli airstrike in southern Beirut.

On Friday, an Israeli airstrike took down an eight-story building in a densely populated neighborhood in Beirut’s southern suburbs as Hezbollah members were meeting in the basement, according to Israel.

Among those killed was Ibrahim Akil, who commanded the group’s special forces unit, known as the Radwan Force.

In retaliation, Hezbollah launched more than 100 rockets early Sunday across northern Israel, with some landing near the city of Haifa, as Israel launched hundreds of strikes on Lebanon.

Air raid sirens across northern Israel sent hundreds of thousands of people scrambling into shelters.

Akil, the main target, had been wanted by the U.S. for years for his alleged role in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut and in taking American and German hostages in Lebanon in the 1980s.

He was under U.S. sanctions and the U.S. State Department last year announced a reward of up to $7 million for information leading to his “identification, location, arrest, and/or conviction.”

AP video shot by Fadi Tawil and Ali Sharafeddine, Production by Ali Sharafeddine

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