Israeli army says killed Hezbollah commander in Lebanon

Jerusalem, May 17 (IANS) The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that it struck and killed a Hezbollah commander in southern Lebanon on Saturday.

According to the statement, the commander, whose name was not given, was killed in the village of Mazraat Jemjim, north of Tyre city.

Several Israeli media outlets reported that the Hezbollah commander was attacked by a drone while inside a car.

The IDF statement accused him of "being involved in the reestablishment of Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in the area," calling such rebuilding efforts and related activity "a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon".

On Thursday, Israeli drones carried out multiple airstrikes across southern Lebanon, killing a Hezbollah member and destroying several prefabricated structures, Lebanese security and official sources said.

Lebanon's Ministry of Health said in a statement that an Israeli drone strike targetting a vehicle on the Arnoun-Yohmor road killed one person.

A Lebanese security source identified the victim as Mohammad Ali Marouni, a Hezbollah member from the town of Arnoun in the Nabatieh District, deep in southern Lebanon.

According to Lebanese official sources, three Hezbollah members were killed and a fourth wounded in separate Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon.

In a related incident, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported that an Israeli Apache helicopter carried out three consecutive strikes within half an hour on the village of Houla in southeastern Lebanon, targetting a prefabricated structure belonging to the Wataawano Association.

The agency added that at dawn, the Israeli army struck another prefabricated building in the village of Adaisseh. Separately, a drone dropped a stun grenade on a house in Kfar Kila, while another drone dropped a similar device over the ruins of al-Dhahira School in the western sector of southern Lebanon.

The cross-border strikes come despite a ceasefire agreement reached on November 27, 2024, intended to halt more than a year of hostilities tied to the war in Gaza. The truce, mediated by the United States and France, has largely held, though sporadic flare-ups have continued, Xinhua news agency reported.

Israel has said its strikes are intended to neutralize Hezbollah threats. However, the Lebanese government and several Arab states have accused Israel of repeatedly violating the ceasefire agreement.

--IANS

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