Israeli strike on Beirut Lebanon kills Hezbollah spokesman
Mohammed Afif, a Hezbollah media relations officer, was targeted in a rare Israeli strike in central Beirut.
Hezbollah spokesman Mohammad Afif speaks during a press conference in south Beirut, Lebanon on November 11, 2024
Mohammed Afif was Hezbollah’s head of media relationsImage: Fadel Itani/UPI Photo/Newscom/picture alliance
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Hezbollah spokesman Mohammed Afif was killed in an Israeli strike on central Beirut, the Iran-backed militia said Sunday.
The Associated Press cited an anonymous Hezbollah official as confirming Afif’s death, in a strike on a building in the Ras al-Nabaa neighborhood that housed the Lebanese branch of the Syrian Baath party.
Afif is the latest in a long line of Hezbollah officials killed since late September, when Israel began its heavy bombardment of what it says are Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon.
Before that, Israel and Hezbollah were engaged in prolonged cross-border exchanges over the Gaza war.
Civil defense teams and locals respond to an Israeli airstrike at a building in the Ras al-Nabaa neighborhood in Beirut, Lebanon, on November 17, 2024Civil defense teams and locals respond to an Israeli airstrike at a building in the Ras al-Nabaa neighborhood in Beirut, Lebanon, on November 17, 2024
The strike that killed Afif hit the Lebanese branch of the Syrian Baath party in central BeirutImage: Houssam Shbaro/Anadolu/picture alliance
Who was Mohammed Afif?
Afif was a close associate of Hassan Nasrallah, the long-time Hezbollah chief who was killed in an Israeli strike in September.
For years, Afif was responsible for the Iran-backed militia’s media relations, providing information to local and foreign journalists, often anonymously.
He joined Hezbollah at a young age and first came to prominence as information director for the group’s TV channel Al-Manar when Hezbollah and Israel went to war in 2006.
After Nasrallah’s killing, Afif held several press conferences in Beirut’s southern suburbs, including one last month that had to be cut short due to the threat of an Israeli strike nearby.
