Muhammad Haidar: Hezbollah operations officer was the target of an Israeli attack in central Beirut Who is he? – BBC News Arabic

There was no immediate comment on the strike from the Israeli army, but the Israel Broadcasting Corporation said a security source said the target of the attack in Beirut’s Basta district was Hezbollah operations officer Muhammad Haidar, and that no comment was made. to give existence. with Hezbollah until now.

A Lebanese security source confirmed to the Reuters news agency that a Hezbollah leader was targeted in an Israeli attack on central Beirut, today, Saturday.

The strike damaged several nearby buildings, and video clips shared on social media showed plumes of smoke rising from a large crack after one of the buildings collapsed.

Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee did not issue any evacuation order before the strike in the Basta al-Fawqa area, and estimates suggest that this is a method used by Israel when they launch a strike to assassinated the leader of Hezbollah.

This is the fourth air attack from Israel within days targeting an area in the center of Beirut, and Israel launched most of its attacks on the southern suburbs of Beirut.

Lebanon’s National News Agency had previously said that the Lebanese capital “woke up to a terrible massacre, and that rescue teams were working to remove the debris on Al-Mamoun Street.”

Witnesses told the Reuters news agency that explosions rocked Beirut at around 4:00 am local time (02:00 GMT). Security sources said at least four bombs were fired in the attack, while Israeli media said five “bunker” bombs were used in the Basta attack.

In a related development, at least 8 people were killed on Saturday in an Israeli attack targeting a town in eastern Lebanon, according to what the Lebanese Ministry of Health said in a statement, including 4 children.

The ministry said that “the Israeli enemy attack on Shamstar had resulted, with an undetermined toll, in the death of eight people, including four children, and the wounding of nine others, including four in critical condition,” while the News Agency Lebanon’s official statement about an attack that “targeted a house in the village of Shamstar.” To “martyrdom a family in which there were four children.”

On Saturday, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the United States was “committed” to reaching a “diplomatic solution in Lebanon,” during telephone conversations with his Israeli counterpart, Yisrael Katz.

A statement from the Ministry of Defense said that Austin also renewed his call on “the Israeli government to continue taking measures aimed at improving the humanitarian situation in Gaza.” “

Minister Austin “stressed the importance of ensuring the safety and security of the Lebanese Armed Forces and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

During the call, Katz promised that his country would “continue to work decisively” against Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

A spokesman for the minister said he welcomed, in his call with Lloyd Austin, “the American efforts to calm Lebanon, and he emphasized Israel’s commitment to restore security, which allowing the residents of the north to return to their homes safely. “

Katz also emphasized that “Israel will continue to act decisively in response to Hezbollah attacks on civilians in Israel.” “

Lebanese media reports that Hezbollah operations officer Muhammad Haider, nicknamed “Abu Ali Haider,” is one of the party’s most prominent military figures, and his circle of responsibilities expanded after the assassination of Imad Mughniyeh in 2008 and Mustafa Badr al-Din in 2016.

According to the media, the Hezbollah operations officer played an important role in structuring the party’s security strategy. Haider is known as a “strategic security mind” because of his “significant contribution to the development of security and strategic plans that determine the characteristics of the party’s operations.”

Haidar was also a member of the “Jihad Council”, which has high-level security responsibilities, and was associated with the leaders Muhammad Afif and Wafiq Safa, the officer in charge of Hezbollah’s Liaison and Coordination Unit , according to Lebanese media.

He was also an adviser to the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, who strengthened his position within the party.

Israeli Channel 12 said that Muhammad Haider represented the party in the Lebanese Parliament during the years (2005-2009).

The 12 also said, based on an investigation by the Israeli intelligence research center Intelli Times, that Haider was responsible for all the secret military projects that Hezbollah had run through the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

The media revealed, on August 25, 2019, that Israel tried to assassinate Muhammad Haider, after two drones bombed the southern suburbs of Beirut, but they failed to assassinate him.

On Saturday morning, an Israeli attack targeted the southern suburbs of Beirut, according to the Lebanese National News Agency.

The National Group said, “The enemy made a violent attack on the southern bank, Hadath district, around the Lebanese University.”

The attack on the Al-Hadath neighborhood came about an hour after the Israeli army issued instructions to evacuate residents of the Al-Hadath and Choueifat Al-Amrousiyah neighborhoods in Beirut’s southern suburbs in preparation for the bombing.

The National News Agency in Lebanon reported earlier on Friday night and Saturday night about a series of Israeli raids on the south bank of Beirut.

The National Group said the Israeli raids targeted several buildings, two of which were located on the outskirts of Beirut’s southern suburbs in the Chiyah district, which remains densely populated and includes many shopping centers, following evacuation warnings. Israel.

Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee announced on stage “X” that the series of airstrikes that hit the southern bank in the last 24 hours targeted “weapons storage and terrorist infrastructure.”

In southern Lebanon, the Civil Defense reported, on Saturday morning, that one person was killed and two others were wounded in an attack by an Israeli march on a group of fishermen on the beach of Tire.

Throughout the night until this morning, the town of Khiam in southern Lebanon saw a series of Israeli airstrikes, according to what was reported by the National News Agency in Lebanon.

She said that Israeli warplanes “intensified their raids on the town of Khiam, and that their artillery attacked the center and outskirts of the town with heavy and medium artillery shells,” noting that The Israeli army fired “phosphorus shells in the area of ​​Al-Jalahiya. north of the town of Chiam.”

The Israeli army said that its forces were able, last week, to destroy a building in southern Lebanon, in which weapons made by Iran were found.