Hezbollah did not immediately confirm the claim of Akil's killing, which came as a flurry of tit-for-tat bombardments between the enemies raised fears of a full-out war erupting in the Middle East.

Israel’s military targeted a senior Hezbollah commander in an airstrike in a Beirut suburb Friday, Israeli officials said, escalating a days-long assault on the group’s communications and logistics infrastructure and shocking an already traumatized nation fearful of an all-out war.