Israel says strike in Lebanon capital Beirut targeted Hezbollah official Ibrahim Akil : NPR

BEIRUT — The Israeli military launched an airstrike in a suburb of Lebanon’s capital on Friday, after a deadly week of attacks in the Middle Eastern country that have intensified nearly a year of fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese militia Hezbollah.

The strike killed at least nine people and wounded almost 60 others, The Associated Press reported, citing Lebanese health authorities.

Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee said the strike targeted and killed Ibrahim Akil, the head of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force, as well as other senior Hezbollah officials. Hezbollah has not publicly commented.

The strike came hours after Hezbollah pounded northern Israel with 140 rockets, and the two sides traded dozens of missiles across the Israeli-Lebanese border overnight.

This latest round of fighting follows a series of near-synchronized pager and walkie-talkie explosions, which killed more than 32 people and wounded thousands more across Lebanon and in parts of Syria this week. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Thursday vowed to retaliate against Israel.

Israel has not publicly commented on the electronic device attacks. But a U.S. official, who was not authorized to speak to reporters, told NPR that Israel notified Washington that it had carried out Tuesday’s attacks.

Lebanon’s national news agency said initial reports showed an airstrike hit a building near the al-Qaim complex, used for religious gatherings in Dahiyeh district south of Beirut.

Lebanese television showed footage of extensive building damage, the wreckage of cars and ambulances racing to the site.

This is a developing story.