Precise strikes in Beirut: Israel takes out Hezbollah drone Chief Mohammed Srur in new offensive

Mangalore Today News Network

Hezbollah ,September 27, 2024: The Israeli military on Thursday killed Hezbollah drone commander Mohammed Srur, aka Abu Saleh, in an airstrike on a Beirut apartment building. The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) released a video of the attack and said that the mission was carried out by the Israeli Air Force and the Intelligence Division.

It said the strike was carried out in the Hezbollah stronghold of Dahiyeh. “In recent years, he was one of the project leaders for the production of unmanned aerial vehicles in Lebanon, established sites to create explosives and drones in Lebanon, some of which were located under civilian buildings in the capitals and other areas in Lebanon,” the IDF said in a statement.

היום, 26 בספטמבר 2024, בהכוונה מודיעינית מדוייקת של חיל האוויר ואגף המודיעין, מטוסי קרב תקפו בביירות וחיסלו את מחמד חסין סרור, מפקד היחידה האווירית של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה>> pic.twitter.com/9btewwdOwE

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) September 26, 2024

Precise strikes in Beirut

The strike was close to the building where the head of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force, Ibrahim Aqil, and other commanders were killed in a strike last Friday. The Lebanese health ministry said that the Beirut strikes killed two people and an official said that “three missiles” targeted “a residential apartment in a 10-storey building”.

Hezbollah, in the aftermath of the strikes, had confirmed that its drone chief was targeted by Israeli forces. A source close to the group told news agency AFP that Israeli airstrikes targeted Mohammed Srur. “The Israeli strike targeted the commander of Hezbollah’s drone unit, Mohammed Srur, known as Abu Saleh, whose fate is still unclear,” the Hezbollah official said at the time, after the Israeli military said it was “carrying out precise strikes in Beirut”.


Who Was Mohammed Srur?

Srur studied mathematics and was among a number of top advisers sent by Hezbollah to Yemen to train the country’s Houthi rebels, who are also backed by Iran, AFP said. He joined Hezbollah in the 1980s, Israeli news media outlets reported.

The IDF has already killed top Hezbollah commanders like Ibrahim Qubaisi, Ibrahim Aqil, Fuad Shukr, Mohammed Nasser and Taleb Abdallah and Srur’s death marked at least the fourth time Israel has targeted the group’s top commanders in recent days.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday vowed to carry out “full force” strikes against Hezbollah until it ceases firing rockets across the border, dimming hopes for a cease-fire proposal put forth by U.S. and European officials.

Netanyahu spoke as he arrived in New York to attend the annual gathering of world leaders at the UN General Assembly, where U.S. and European officials were putting heavy pressure on both sides of the conflict to accept a proposed 21-day halt in the fighting to give time for diplomacy and avert all-out war.