Palestinian Resistance Factions Condemn Zionist Aggression on Beirut

Several Palestinian Resistance factions condemned Friday the recent Zionist attack on a residential building in the Jammous area of Beirut’s Southern Suburb. The factions praised Hezbollah’s steadfastness in continuing its support for Palestine, emphasizing that the enemy would not succeed in separating the various fronts of Resistance.

Hamas values Hezbollah’s sacrifices

The Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, strongly denounced the occupation’s aggression on the southern suburbs of Beirut, labeling it as a continuation of the occupation’s ongoing crimes and a violation of Lebanese sovereignty. In a statement, the movement declared, “This new crime is part of the continuous aggression and serves as an escalation.”

Hamas stressed that the Zionist regime’s actions are war crimes requiring urgent international intervention. It reiterated that “the fascist aggression will not achieve its goals, and the resistance will continue its path until the Zionist project in the region is eliminated.” The movement further added, “We stand with our brothers in Hezbollah and the Islamic Resistance, and we express our full solidarity with them.”

Additionally, Hamas commended Hezbollah’s “brave stance” and their commitment to supporting the Palestinian cause, particularly in Gaza.

The regime seeks to drag Lebanon to open war: PIJ

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad also condemned the “treacherous aggression” on Beirut’s southern suburbs, which targeted residential areas. The movement praised Hezbollah and the Lebanese people’s sacrifices in confronting the occupation.

The PIJ accused the Zionist government of trying to drag Lebanon into an open war or impose humiliating conditions, the first of which would be stopping Hezbollah’s support for the Palestinian people. “The enemy persists in its crimes, aiming to draw Lebanon into a wider conflict,” the movement said.

Aggression not to weaken resistance: PFLP

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) also condemned the zionist aggression on Lebanon, stating that the airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburbs represents a new crime that will not weaken the resolve of the resistance.

The PFLP emphasized that the enemy’s crimes and “the widening of its war of extermination leaves no option for the region’s people but to resist and fight.”

Enemy not to divide Resistance fronts: Mujahideen movement

The Palestinian Mujahideen Movement harshly criticized the latest attack on Beirut, which coincided with new massacres in Gaza targeting civilians and children. The movement denounced the “international silence and official Arab complicity” in the face of Zionist crimes.

“The brutal aggression against civilians in Lebanon and Gaza could not have occurred without the unlimited US support for the Nazi-like government of the enemy,” the faction underlined. Furthermore, it stressed that the enemy “will not be able to restore its deterrence through massacres and will fail in separating the resistance fronts or stopping them.”

DFLP stands with Arab Resistance movements

The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) condemned the attack, stating, “The targeting of the Southern Suburb following the agers and radio devices massacre confirms the enemy’s terrorism and its determination to ignite war.”

“The Palestinian resistance stands alongside Arab resistance movements, with Hezbollah at the forefront,” the DFLP affirmed, noting that “resistance forces know well how to defend their people and take revenge against the Zionist enemy and its fascist army on the battlefield.”

Zionist regime to pay the price for aggression: Fatah al-Intifada

Fatah al-Intifada harshly condemned the Zionist aggression on Lebanon and the Lebanese people, particularly the attack on Beirut’s Southern Suburb. In a statement, the movement declared, “The occupation entity will reap nothing from this barbaric attack but humiliation and defeat, and it will backfire on them and their settlers.”

“The aggression on Beirut’s southern suburbs is a dangerous escalation for which the enemy bears full responsibility,” the movement said. It also declared its support for Hezbollah, stating, “We stand by Hezbollah in this battle, and our people will emerge victorious regardless of the sacrifices.”

Earlier in the day, the regime launched an aggression on a residential building in the Lebanese capital’s southern suburb.

The attack completely destroyed the residential building, with 12 confirmed dead so far, including many women and children, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.

Shortly after the aggression, the Lebanese Resistance announced it targeted the headquarters of the aerial control unit and the aerial operations division at the Meron base in northern occupied Palestine.

Zionist news reports later said that bomb shelters were opened in several areas in central occupied Palestine.

The strike was launched via fighter jet due to the size of the heavy bombs deployed. The target was a residential building in a residential area that houses a large number of schools.

The strike constitutes the third violation of the stipulations put in place by Hezbollah, as they had underlined that Beirut was completely off-limits for the occupation with the war of attrition being concentrated in Southern Lebanon and the Beqaa Valley.

The deterrence equation would not be violated for just any target, and the occupation had shown before that it would only strike Beirut’s Southern Suburb if the target was worthy of the escalation that would follow suit.

The regime struck Beirut only twice before Friday, the first being to assassinate the Deputy Chief of Hamas’ Political Bureau, Sheikh Saleh al-Arouri, and the second being to assassinate Hezbollah top commander Hajj Fouad Shokor.

Who is Ibrahim Aqil

Ibrahim Aqil, also known as Hajj Abdul-Qader, is a senior Hezbollah official who has been operating with the Resistance since its inception in the 1980s, but very little information is known about him, as his life has been shrouded in secrecy due to the nature of his post.

This is customary for senior commanders in the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon. As seen with Commander Fouad Shokor, more information will be revealed about the martyr at a later time, and only what the Resistance deems fit will make it to the public.

Ibrahim Aqil, known by his aliases of Hajj Abdul-Qader and Hajj Tahsin, was born in 1962 in the Baalbek-Hermel governorate in eastern Lebanon. Hezbollah revealed that he comes from the town of Bednayel.

His path of Resistance started in the 1980s with the formation of Hezbollah serving in the military wing of the resistance movement, claimed by the United States to have been behind the bombings of the US embassy in Beirut in April 1983 and the bombing of the US marines barracks in October 1983, which killed 241 US personnel.

The Reagan administration at the time accused Hezbollah of planning both attacks, but no evidence was produced. The US allegations gave international prominence to numerous Hezbollah members, including martyrs Hajj Mostafa Badreddine, Hajj Imad Mughniyeh, Hajj Fouad Shokor, and Hajj Ibrahim Aqil. As members of Hezbollah’s Jihad Council, they were all placed on terror list.

The United States alleges that Aqil also directed the kidnappings of American and German citizens in Lebanon in the hostage crisis that took place between 1982 and 1992 in close collaboration with Martyr Imad Mughniyeh. However, Hezbollah denies any involvement in these operations.

Little to nothing was known about Aqil’s responsibilities over the past 40 years other than him being a senior and core Hezbollah commander.

It is not even known what his position was at the time of the assassination, as it is possible that there was a hierarchical reshuffle within Hezbollah following the assassination of commander Shokor, as all information regarding such inner workings is highly classified.

After his assassination, it was announced that he was the leader of the elite Radwan Unit at the time of his martyrdom.

More information was revealed about the senior commander, with the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon saying he was one of the pioneers of Islamic Resistance as we know it in Lebanon. He was part of the commanders who resisted the Zionist invasion of Beirut in 1982.

In the early 90s, Aqil directly took charge of training Resistance fighters, playing a pivotal role in developing Hezbollah’s manpower capabilities. Later in the decade, he took charge of the General Staff of the Islamic Resistance.

Rising through the ranks, he was then appointed as the head of the operations division from 1997 until after the liberation in 2000, personally leading numerous large-scale operations that were carried out at the time. He was also one of the senior Hezbollah commanders who led the struggle against the occupation forces during the 2006 July war on Lebanon.

The martyr also founded the Operations Division within the Islamic Resistance, and as of 2008, he was a senior operational advisor to Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. That same year, he was appointed as a member of the Jihad Council.

In the 2010s, Aqil was among the senior Resistance leaders who planned for and directed the operations against the terrorist organizations on the Lebanese borders and within Syria, which effectively put an end to their activities on the Lebanese borders and greatly diminished their capabilities and activities within Syria.

Ever since the beginning of Operation al-Aqsa Flood on October 7 and the subsequent launch of the Lebanese support front, Hajj Aqil has been in charge of the execution and planning of all Radwan Force operations against the occupation.

Assassination attempts

There is only one attempt on Aqil’s life that is known to the public, which was ahead of the occupation’s withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000, wherein an attack helicopter fired a missile toward his location, which he survived. It is not known whether he sustained any injuries at the time.

‘Terrorist’ designation

Nothing was said about or heard of Aqil for the following 15 years until the US Department of the Treasury designated him pursuant to Executive Order 13582 for being a Hezbollah member and then in 2019, he was designated as a “specially designated global terrorist”.

Radwan Force

Aqil’s name made its rounds in news reports back in December in light of escalating tensions between Hezbollah and the occupation, as Zionist media said he was identified as the head of the Radwan Force, which has been a heavy-hitter against the occupation forces during the ongoing confrontations on the northern front.

The Radwan Force is Hezbollah’s most trained unit, serving as one of the most efficient military units in the region. It is named after martyr Imad Mughniyeh, whose alias was Hajj Radwan. It is a commando force whose main goal is to penetrate deep into enemy territory.

Today, the unit, under which various divisions operate, including armored, anti-armor, and fire-support divisions, stands as the culmination of martyr Mughniyeh and martyr Aqil’s struggle in the face of the colonialist and imperialist ambitions in the region. Its name reverberates throughout the Israeli occupation and it is feared even by its upper echelons due to its vast and sophisticated capabilities.

Zionist senior officers have repeatedly underlined that the force is capable of launching coordinated attacks, including the infiltration of Israeli settlements or military positions, underlining that even in the midst of the war, it is undergoing extensive training to launch a ground offensive against the Israeli occupation.

While the assassination of Ibrahim Aqil is definitely a blow to Hezbollah, the Resistance movement said its steadfastness will not waver, and its operations will continue as normal. While leaders and commanders are of high importance to the movement, its continuation is not in any way dependent on any individual, as the structure ensures the preservation of the movement and its military operations regardless of the loss of any senior officials, with the goal of liberation at the forefront.