Israeli forces struck Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon Thursday afternoon, the first such assault since the killing earlier this week of Hezbollah’s top military commander Haytham Ali Tabatabai, the IDF said.
The initial strike hit the village of Mahmoudiyeh, with subsequent attacks on additional villages. According to an IDF statement, the Air Force, guided by Military Intelligence, targeted terror sites including weapons depots, rocket-launch sites and military positions used by Hezbollah to plan attacks against Israeli forces.
Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon
“The presence of the infrastructure sites and the activity of the Hezbollah terrorist organization in these areas constitute a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” the military said. It added that Israel would continue acting to neutralize any threats to its security, while remaining committed to the terms agreed between the two countries.
The operation follows Sunday’s airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburb of Dahieh, which killed Tabatabai, known as Hezbollah’s de facto second-in-command. That assault, dubbed “Black Friday,” was the first Israeli strike in Dahieh since June. Lebanese reports indicated the strike hit residential floors in an apartment block; three people were killed and about 25 were wounded. Hezbollah acknowledged Tabatabai’s death, but did not issue an immediate retaliation threat.
IDF forces operating in the northern West Bank
(Video: IDF)
On another front, under Operation Five Stones, Israeli forces are active in Jenin — among other northern West Bank towns — surrounding a house, deploying helicopters and ground troops. Over the past 24 hours, security forces searched more than 220 locations, questioned dozens of suspects, detained several wanted individuals, seized weapons, destroyed terrorist hideouts and confiscated tens of thousands of shekels meant for terror financing, the military said, adding that in recent years, terrorists in the targeted localities carried out numerous terrorist plots against Israeli civilians and security forces.
Additionally, reports from Syria indicate that an IDF unit entered the village of al‑Asa in the Quneitra countryside. The unit reportedly warned residents to stay away from farmland and threatened gunfire if they approached.