People and rescuers gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a building that according to security sources killed Hezbollah’s media relations chief Mohammad Afif in Ras Al- Nabaa, in Beirut, Lebanon November 17, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

A Lebanese security source said Hezbollah spokesman Mohammed Afif was killed in an Israeli strike on Sunday (November 17, 2024) in central Beirut that hit the Lebanese branch of the Syrian Baath party.

“The strike on Ras al-Nabaa killed Hezbollah media relations official Mohammed Afif,” the security source said, requesting anonymity as they were not authorised to brief the media.

Ali Hijazi, secretary-general of the Lebanese branch of the Baath party, “confirmed the death of Hezbollah media official” Afif, the official National News Agency reported.

The Israeli Army declined to comment, but Afif is the latest in a long line of Hezbollah officials killed since Israel on September 23 began heavily bombarding Hezbollah strongholds after almost a year of cross-border exchanges with the Iran-backed group over the Gaza war.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said the strike killed one person and wounded three others, adding that the toll was provisional and that work was ongoing to remove rubble from the site of the strike.

Afif was part of the inner circle of longtime Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli strike in September.

For years, Afif had been responsible for Hezbollah’s media relations, providing information to local and foreign journalists, often under the cover of anonymity.

The NNA said the strike by “enemy aircraft” caused “great destruction”, reporting an unspecified number of people “trapped under the rubble” in Ras al-Nabaa, an area near the French embassy and a university.

It said “one of the residents of a neighbouring building had received a warning call urging evacuation but it was not taken seriously”.

Afif joined Hezbollah at a young age and first came to prominence as information director for Hezbollah’s television channel Al-Manar when the group and Israel went to war in 2006.

After Nasrallah’s assassination, Afif had held several press conferences in Beirut’s southern suburbs, including one last month in which he announced Hezbollah had launched a drone targeting the residence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

That press conference was cut short when the Israeli Army warned it would strike a building nearby.

“Bombardments have not scared us, so how would threats?” Afif said defiantly as journalists hurriedly collected their microphones from the table.

Hezbollah officials killed in previous Israeli strikes include not only Nasrallah but also Hashem Safieddine, tipped as the former chief’s successor.

China said Saturday (October 5, 2024) that it has evacuated 215 of its nationals from Lebanon, where Israel has been carrying out intense bombardments since last month, resulting in over 1,100 deaths.

This week, Israel said its troops launched “ground raids” into parts of southern Lebanon, a stronghold of Iran-backed Hezbollah, following days of heavy strikes on areas across the country where the group holds sway.

Israel has recently shifted its focus to securing its northern border with Lebanon, where there have been near-daily clashes since Hezbollah launched strikes in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas, after that group’s October 7 attack.

Several countries have launched operations to remove their nationals from Lebanon in the wake of the ground raids, including Russia, France, Spain, Germany and the UK.

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“So far, 215 Chinese citizens have been safely evacuated from Lebanon in two batches under the organisation and arrangement of the Chinese government,” Beijing’s foreign ministry said in a statement given to AFP.

“The Chinese Embassy in Lebanon continues to carry out its mission in Lebanon and will continue to assist the Chinese citizens there in taking security measures,” it added.

The ministry did not say where the evacuated Chinese nationals had been taken.

According to Lebanese authorities, more than 1,110 people have been killed in the country since the escalation in Israeli bombardment on September 23, while more than a million people have been forced to flee their homes. 

On Wednesday (October 2, 2024), China urged world powers to prevent the conflict from “further deteriorating” after Iran fired a barrage of missiles at Israel, which warned it would make Tehran “pay” for the attack.