Mohammed Afif, Hezbollah’s media chief, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in central Beirut, the militant group claimed.
According to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency, a strike damaged the Baath political party’s headquarters in the highly populated Ras al-Naba area on Sunday.
The country’s health ministry stated that four people were killed but did not identify the victims.
Afif, one of the group’s few remaining public faces, was last seen on Monday during a press conference in Beirut’s southern suburbs, where the group is headquartered.
Hezbollah verified the killing on Sunday evening, some hours after the initial news.
The strike demolished the majority of the headquarters of the Syrian Baath party’s Lebanese branch, while rescue and civil defence crews rushed to help those trapped beneath the wreckage, according to the National News Agency.
The health ministry reported that 14 individuals were injured, in addition to the four fatalities.
The Lebanese Baath Party is a branch of the Syrian Baath Party, led by President Bashar Al-Assad and a long-time Hezbollah partner.
Its Lebanese offices are near a bustling central intersection that connects western and eastern Beirut to the city centre and the airport road, which runs through the southern suburbs.
Lina Sinjab, a BBC Middle East correspondent, said the move reinforced concerns that Israel was broadening its assaults beyond Hezbollah military officials.
Hezbollah is also a political party with representatives in parliament and ministers in government.
“That is really sending alarm to people—that there are no signs of de-escalating this situation or finding a solution, but rather further escalation and widening Israeli targets against Hezbollah in Lebanon,” she told the BBC’s news channel.
Later on Sunday, another strike in central Beirut on Mar Elias Street killed two people and wounded 13 more, the Lebanese health ministry disclosed.
Earlier on Sunday, the IDF announced that it had launched strikes on six Hezbollah military positions in the south suburbs.
The Israeli military has increased its attacks on Beirut over the last week, despite continued US efforts to broker a cease-fire in the war.
In late September, Israel launched an operation against the Iran-backed militia, killing Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah as well as other top commanders and senior officials in Beirut.
Israel announced plans to return tens of thousands of displaced inhabitants to the country’s north nearly a year after Hezbollah increased rocket assaults in support of Palestinians following Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Over 3,400 people have been killed in Lebanon since then, including at least 2,600 since Israel launched an intense air campaign followed by a ground invasion in the south in late September, according to the Lebanese health ministry. Another 1.2 million people have been displaced.
