Hezbollah Commander Killed

Hassan al-Laqis, one of the founding members and a senior commander of Hezbollah in Lebanon, was shot and killed Wednesday outside his home in Beirut. To confirm the killing, Lebanon’s state news agency released a photograph of al-Laqis, showing a man in his mid-forties with black hair and a graying beard. Hezbollah immediately blamed Israel for the killing, although Israel denied any involvement. Israel and Hezbollah have fought several wars, and al-Laqis's son died fighting Israel in 2006. Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has been rarely seen in public since 2006.