Beirut, Aug 18, (dpa/GNA) – The Israeli military said it killed a commander from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, in an airstrike on southern Lebanon on Saturday.
The man was killed in an airstrike near the coastal city of Tyre. The Lebanese Ministry of Health had earlier announced that one person had been killed in an Israeli attack on a motorcycle in the area.
The Israeli military said he was a commander of the Radwan Force, an elite unit within the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia.
Hezbollah did not initially comment on the strike or the Israeli claims.
Separately, Hezbollah said earlier in a statement that it fired a volley of rockets into new areas in northern Israel, to retaliate for an attack on al-Kfour which killed and wounded mainly Syrian civilians.
The Hezbollah sources said the areas of Ayelet HaShahar were targted for the first time today.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said 55 projectiles had been fired.
“Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in the area of Ayelet HaShahar in northern Israel, approximately 55 projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon, some of which fell in open areas,” the IDF said. No injuries were reported.
“As a result of the projectiles fired into Israel, multiple fires were ignited in the area, and Israel Fire and Rescue Services are currently operating at the scene to extinguish them,” the IDF said.
Earlier, “an IDF soldier was severely injured and another soldier was lightly injured this morning, as a result of a projectile that crossed from Lebanon and fell in the area of Misgav Am,” the IDF said.
The soldiers were evacuated to a hospital for medical treatment and their families have been notified, the IDF said.
The death toll from an Israeli airstrike on an area in southern Lebanon rose to 10, among them two children, the Lebanese Health Ministry and state-media said on Saturday.
Those killed were mostly Syrian nationals, the ministry said.
The National News Agency (NNA) said the raid hit a brick mill on the outskirts of the northern town of al-Kafour in the Natabtiyeh district. Earlier reports from the area said it was a residential building.
It said among the dead was the caretaker of mill, who is a Syrian national, and his whole family.
Five others were injured in the Israeli strike, the ministry said in a statement, adding that some are in critical condition.
The Israeli army said the air force had attacked a Hezbollah militia weapons depot in the Natabtiyeh area. The military also struck with artillery to eliminate a threat in other areas of southern Lebanon, the army said.
The reports that civilians were injured as a result of the strike is under review, the Israeli army said.
On Friday, at least one person was killed and another wounded in an Israeli strike, that hit the village of Aitaroun in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese Health Ministry said.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah movement said that one of its fighters was killed, but did not say when or where.
The Israeli army said the place it hit in the Aitaroun area was a military structure, in which Hezbollah terrorists were operating.
Hezbollah has repeatedly launched rockets from southern Lebanon into northern Israel since the beginning of Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip against the Palestinian militant group Hamas, an ally of Hezbollah.
More than 120 civilians have been killed, most of them on the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military has responded with numerous airstrikes and shelling on targets in southern Lebanon.
Israel launched the Gaza war, in response to unprecedented attacks on Israel led by Hamas on October 7, which left more than 1,200 people dead.
GNA