BEIRUT, May 7 — A senior commander from Hezbollah’s elite force was killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs on Wednesday, the first on the area in nearly a month, a source close to the group said.

At least 11 other people were killed in strikes across the south and east, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his military had targeted “the commander of Hezbollah’s Radwan force”.

The source close to Hezbollah told AFP on condition of anonymity that “Malek Ballout, the operations commander in the Radwan force” was killed.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency had reported that “Israeli warplanes launched an attack, targeting Ghobeiri” in the southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold.

An AFP correspondent saw a building covered in rubble following the strike, as people left the area with their belongings.

Many of the southern suburbs’ residents had already left after Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war in March, and have not returned despite the truce in force since April 17.

A Lebanese security source told AFP on condition of anonymity that the strike hit an apartment in which Radwan leaders were holding a meeting.

Beirut and its southern suburbs had been spared Israeli attacks since April 8, when massive Israeli strikes across the country killed more than 350 people.

Wednesday’s attack came as US President Donald Trump said there was “a very good chance” of sealing a peace deal with Iran.

Continued attacks 

At least 11 people were killed in earlier Israeli strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon, the Lebanese health ministry said.

In Saksakiyeh, four people were killed and 33 wounded, including six children and four women.

The NNA also reported strikes across the south, including several on the town of Yater.

Israeli strikes on Lebanon have killed more than 2,700 people and displaced more than a million, particularly from southern and eastern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs, since March 2.

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday it had “verified 152 attacks on healthcare that resulted in 103 deaths and 241 injuries”.

“These attacks have resulted in the closure of three hospitals and 41 primary health centres and caused damage to a further 16 hospitals.”

Israel has repeatedly bombed Lebanon, particularly the south, since the truce, with Hezbollah retaliating by launching attacks on Israeli troops.

The terms of the ceasefire allow Israel to act against “planned, imminent or ongoing attacks” by Hezbollah.

Visiting troops in southern Lebanon, where Israel has established a “yellow line”, Israeli army chief Eyal Zamir said they will “seize every opportunity to deepen the dismantling of Hezbollah and continue weakening it”. — AFP 

NAJAF (Iraq), May 6 — In Iraq’s holy city of Najaf, the majestic shrine of Imam Ali stands quiet, its vast courtyards no longer echoing with the multilingual whispers of pilgrims from before the Middle East war.

The absence of tourists leaves nearby shopkeepers and hotel owners with little to do, their days dragging on as they hope for the crowds to return and revive their businesses.

“Iranians used to keep us busy, whether the jeweller, the fabric merchant or the taxi driver. Now there are none,” said jewellery shop owner Abdel Rahim Harmoush.

“It used to be hard even to step into the market because of foreigners... Even street vendors drew huge crowds of visitors,” the 71-year-old added.

Millions of Shia Muslims from around the world typically flock to Najaf and fellow holy city Karbala every year.

But the regional war ignited in late February by US-Israeli strikes on Iran has stemmed the usual influx of pilgrims from the Islamic republic, Lebanon, the Gulf states, India, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Iraq was drawn into the conflict from the onset, with strikes targeting US interests and Tehran-backed armed groups in the country.

People in the holy cities “live on religious tourism”, said Harmoush, who for 38 years has worked in the old market near Najaf’s golden-domed mausoleum.

The shrine is the ornate burial place of Ali — the Prophet Muhammad’s son-in-law, the fourth Islamic caliph and the first Shia Imam.

Harmoush warned of economic ruin were the crisis to persist: shop owners unable to pay rent and taxes, cab drivers left without passengers and labourers struggling to find work.

A shop owner waits for customers in the Old City of Najaf on April 22, 2026. — AFP pic

Hotels closed 

Hotel owner Abu Ali, 52, was forced to lay off five employees, leaving just one to tend to nearly 70 empty rooms.

“How can I pay salaries if there is no work?” he said.

Saeb Abu Ghneim, head of the hotel association in Najaf, told AFP that 80 per cent of the city’s 250 hotels had closed, with more than 2,000 employees laid off or on unpaid leave.

He added that most of Najaf’s religious tourism relies on Iranians, followed by Lebanese visitors — also trapped at home by war — and other nationalities.

The sector, which already weathered the closure of mosques and shrines in the pandemic, is a rare type of tourism in a country reeling from decades of conflicts.

Religious tourism also constitutes a significant source of revenue for Iraq’s non-oil economy.

Before the war, 28-year-old Moustafa al-Haboubi could barely manage the crowds queuing to exchange foreign currency for Iraqi dinars.

He now spends the long hours idly scrolling through his phone or chatting with neighbours.

“We barely receive one or two customers,” he said. “There are no pilgrims now, Iranian or otherwise.”

Even after a fragile ceasefire took effect on April 8 and Iraq’s airspace reopened, little has changed.

Some pilgrims trickle through during the week, while on weekends the area grows somewhat livelier as Iraqis visit the sacred sites.

People stand outside a hotel in Najaf on April 22, 2026. — AFP pic

‘Catastrophe’ 

The situation is no different in Karbala, which is around 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of Najaf and home to the shrines of the revered grandsons of Prophet Muhammad, Imam Hussein and his brother Abbas.

The main corridor linking the two golden shrines and the surrounding alleyways were once alive with the murmurs of tourists walking to prayers.

Today, the visitors are almost exclusively Iraqi.

“The situation is dangerous... a catastrophe,” said Israa al-Nasrawi, head of Karbala’s tourism committee.

She warned that the war had devastated the city’s economy, slashing tourist numbers by around 95 per cent and forcing hundreds of hotels to close.

The city’s many pilgrim tour companies sit idle.

Akram Radi, who has worked in the sector for 16 years, said his company once helped up to 1,000 visitors a month but is now operating at only 10 per cent of capacity.

“I might have to close and look for another job,” he said. — AFP 

A shopkeeper of a clothing store passes time by scrolling through his phone as he sits and waits for customers in the Old City of Najaf. — AFP pic