(Beirut) A local Hezbollah commander was killed Tuesday in southern Lebanon according to the Israeli army which carried out a series of strikes, the powerful formation supported by Iran claiming for its part attacks on northern Israel .
An Israeli army plane “eliminated Ismail Youssef Baz, the commander of Hezbollah’s coastal sector,” the Israeli army announced in a statement.
According to a source close to the pro-Iranian party, the man killed in a strike on the village of Ain Baal, about fifteen kilometers from the Israeli border, was “commander for the Naqoura region” in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah limited itself to announcing Baz’s death without further details.
According to the Israeli army, he participated in “planning the firing of rockets and anti-tank missiles towards Israel (…)”.
The National Information Agency (ANI, official) reported one dead and two injured in a strike on a car in Aïn Baal.
She also reported “casualties” in an Israeli strike which targeted two cars in the town of Chehabiyé.
Since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas on October 7, Hezbollah has carried out daily attacks against Israel to support its ally, the Palestinian Islamist movement.
The Israeli army responds by bombarding Lebanese territory more and more deeply and by carrying out targeted attacks against Hezbollah officials.
The powerful formation announced that it had launched Katyusha-type rockets on Beit Hillel, in northern Israel, in response to the raid on Ain Baal.
Hezbollah had announced shortly before having launched “suicide drones (.) on Beit Hillel”, which targeted “the launch pads of the “Iron Dome” and their personnel”, in reference to the Israeli air defense system.
The Israeli army announced that “two armed drones crossing the border from Lebanon exploded in the Beit Hillel area”.
The Upper Galilee Regional Council said three people were injured.
On Monday, the Israeli army announced that four soldiers had been injured in Lebanese territory after Hezbollah claimed to have activated “explosive devices” as Israeli soldiers crossed the border.
This violence comes following a peak in tension this weekend.
During the night from Saturday to Sunday, Iran launched an unprecedented attack against Israel using drones and missiles, in response to a strike on its consulate in Damascus, attributed to Israel.
At the same time, Hezbollah announced that it had launched Katyusha rockets on Israeli military positions in the Syrian Golan occupied by Israel, which carried out several strikes on Lebanese territory.
More than six months of violence have left 365 dead on the Lebanese side, mainly Hezbollah fighters, but also some 70 civilians, according to an AFP count.
In northern Israel, ten soldiers and eight civilians were killed according to the army. Tens of thousands of residents had to flee the area on both sides of the border.
reference: www.lapresse.ca