At funeral of slain terror chief, Hezbollah No.2 vows ‘open-ended battle of reckoning’
Crowds mass to mourn Ibrahim Aqil, killed in IDF airstrike with other Radwan Force members; ‘we sacrifice our children and grandchildren for him,’ a woman says of leader Nasrallah
BEIRUT — Hezbollah supporters in Lebanon turned out in force Sunday for the funeral of a top commander killed in an Israeli air strike on Friday, and the deputy leader of the Iran-backed terror group vowed to expand the fight against Israel until the war ends in Gaza.
Ibrahim Aqil, the head of operations for Hezbollah, was killed in the strike along with top commanders of its elite Radwan Force, as they met in the basement of a Beirut residential building.
Hezbollah has hailed the 61-year-old Aqil as “one of its great leaders.”
Aqil had been on a US sanctions list for nearly a decade. Until his death, the US had offered a $7 million reward for information on him over his role in a 1983 bombing that killed 241 Americans in Beirut.
Men and women, many wearing black, gathered for the packed ceremony in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital where Hezbollah enjoys steadfast support.
Some mourners carried photos of Hezbollah members who had been killed.
Fighters in fatigues and red berets lined up while others carried Aqil’s coffin and that of another Hezbollah member, both covered in the group’s yellow flag, as a brass band played.
Security was tight, with the immediate area surrounded by metal fencing.
Amira Makki, 60, told AFP she was attending the funeral “to say that we are all with” Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
“We sacrifice our children and grandchildren for him,” she said, carrying a photo of her brother and brother-in-law who were killed by Israeli fire in recent months. She did not say whether they, too, were members of the terror group.
Nearby, a woman who identified herself as Fatima said that attending Aqil’s funeral was a “duty.”
“Every martyr protects us… and if not for our men’s sacrifices, we wouldn’t be here,” the 26-year-old said.
“We are in… a fateful battle,” she told AFP.
‘Fingers on the trigger’
One poster near the procession read: “We will not abandon Palestine,” a reference to Hezbollah’s stated position that only a ceasefire in the Gaza war will put an end to its incessant attacks on Israel.
Hezbollah has traded near daily cross-border fire with Israeli forces since it began attacking Israel, on October 8, in support of Hamas after the Palestinian terrorist group’s October 7 invasion and slaughter in Israel triggered the Gaza war. The Hamas rampage saw terrorists kill some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnap 251.
So far, the skirmishes across Israel’s northern border have resulted in 26 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 22 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
Hezbollah has named 504 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing fighting, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. Another 79 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians have also been killed.
Tensions and violence spiked dramatically over the past week, with thousands of Hezbollah members injured and dozens killed when communications devices blew up in a remote attack attributed to Israel, heavy Israeli strikes on south Lebanon, and Hezbollah firing rockets deeper into Israel, raising fears of all-out war.
A new phase
Addressing the funeral, Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem said the group had entered a new phase of its battle with Israel and was “ready to face all military possibilities.”
The fight with Israel is now an “open-ended battle of reckoning,” he said. “In this phase, we will continue to maintain the supportive front [for Gaza] and the struggle [against Israel] in a creative way. From time to time we will kill them and fight them — where they expect it and where they don’t.”
Qassem vowed that support from Lebanon for Gaza “will continue, no matter how long it takes, until the war in Gaza ends. The residents of the north [of Israel] will not return; more residents will have to leave their homes, and the support for Gaza will widen. Israel’s ‘military solution’ will only make things worse for Israel and the residents of the north.”
The crowd interrupted his speech with intermittent chants of “Death to America, death to Israel!” and expressions of devotion to Nasrallah.
Qassem said Aqil was “a commander of Hezbollah operations” and had established the Radwan Force and its leadership in 2008.
Friday’s strike targeted an underground meeting of commanders of the force, killing 16 of them.
Lebanon’s health ministry has put the overall death toll from the Israeli air strike at 45 people, including civilians.
Hezbollah has said a second senior commander, Ahmed Wahbi, was also among the dead.
After the funeral ceremony, mourners walked near the coffins which were placed on a truck and laid with wreaths.
Aqil was the second senior Hezbollah commander to be killed since October, after an Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs in July killed top commander Fuad Shukr.
Despite the soaring violence and growing fears of war, Hezbollah supporters at Sunday’s funeral expressed unflinching loyalty to the Shiite terror group.
“We are ready to give our blood and our children,” said engineer Hussein Zaarur, 72, adding that two of his relatives had been killed since October.
“We are ready, and our fingers are on the trigger,” he told AFP.
