The IDF confirmed the elimination of Hezbollah's press chief

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Monday, November 18, confirmed the elimination of Mohamad Afif, the head of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement's press office.

"Today [the IDF] <...> eliminated terrorist Mohamad Afif, the chief propagandist and spokesman of the Hezbollah terrorist organization," the army said in a statement on its Telegram channel.

It specified that Israel carried out an accurate strike on the Beirut neighborhood based on intelligence.

Earlier, on November 17, two flares fell in the courtyard of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence in Caesarea. It is specified that no damage was caused, and the Prime Minister and his family were not at home at that time.

On November 15, the Lebanese Ministry of Health reported 59 dead as a result of the Israeli attack. In addition, 182 local residents were wounded.

Before that, on November 12, Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz said that there would be no ceasefire in Lebanon. According to him, the Israeli army will continue to strike the Shiite Hezbollah movement until the goals of the war are achieved.

On Nov. 10, Katz said Hezbollah has been defeated and called the elimination of movement leader Hassan Nasrallah an achievement. He said the only thing left for the state to do is to keep up pressure on the Shiite organization to reap the fruits of defeating it.

The escalation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah came after the events of September 17 and 18, when thousands of people, including employees of the movement, were injured when pagers and other communication devices exploded in Lebanon. The country blamed Tel Aviv for what happened. Since then, Israel has continued to eliminate the leadership of the Shiite movement and strike Lebanese territory.

The situation in the Middle East escalated on the morning of October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian radical movement Hamas subjected the territory of Israel to a massive rocket attack from the Gaza Strip. On the same day, Israel began retaliatory strikes.