Illustrative image.
The clashes on the Lebanese-Israeli border, which broke out on the backdrop of the Israeli war on the Palestinian Gaza Strip, escalated in the last 24 hours, with Hezbollah attacking key command bases and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) responding with assassinations.
The escalation began on April 16 afternoon when Hezbollah attacked launchers of the Iron Dome air defense system deployed near the settlement of Beit Hillel with two suicide drones. The IDF confirmed that drones impacted the area, without providing any details.
This was the group’s second drone attack against Iron Dome systems in northern Israel in less than a week. The first was on April 13. Video footage from the attack were released.
Hebrew media reported the drone attack, without acknowledging any losses. Soon after in the afternoon, two Israeli drones hit vehicles in two separate locations in southern Lebanon, the heartland of Hezbollah.
Later, the IDF said it killed Ismail Yousef Baz, allegedly a senior member of Hezbollah, in a drone strike in the town of Ain Baal. Baz was “a senior and veteran official in the military wing of Hezbollah,” who held several positions, the latest being the commander of the coastal region, according to the IDF.
“As part of his position, he was involved in advancing and planning rocket and anti-tank missile launches towards the State of Israel from the coastal area in Lebanon,” the IDF said in a statement.
In a separate statement, the IDF said a second drone strike on the town of Kfar Dounine killed Muhammad Shahouri, a Hezbollah commander responsible for Radwan’s western district rocket unit. Shahouri was “responsible for the planning and execution of many rocket [attacks] towards the Israeli home front,” from the western and central areas of southern Lebanon, according to the IDF.
Alongside Shahouri, another Hezbollah commander, Mahmoud Fadlallah, was killed in the strike, the IDF said, not being a member of Hezbollah’s rocket unit.
Hezbollah admitted the death of Baz, Shahouri and Fadlallah, without confirming that they were commanders in its ranks. In three separate statements, the group simply said the three were killed “on the road to Jerusalem,” a phrase used to those who lost their lives in the ongoing clashes with the IDF.
In addition to the assassinations, a series of Israeli strikes hit the towns of Ain Baal, Aalma al-Shaab, Hanine and Yaroun in southern Lebanon. The IDF said that the strikes targeted buildings used by Hezbollah and gatherings of the group’s fighters.
The Amal Movement, Hezbollah’s closest ally in Lebanon and the second largest Shia party in the country , mourned one of its members after the strike.
Hezbollah responded to the targeted killings and other strikes with a wave of attacks. Late on April 16, the group shelled an IDF base near Beit Hillel, the headquarters of the 769th Territorial Brigade in the settlement of Kiryat Shemona, a key air traffic control base of the Israeli Air Force on Mount Meron and the headquarters of the 146th Division close to the settlement of Ga’aton.
The group launched more attacks early on April 17, including one that targeted the headquarters of the IDF’s 91st Division in the Pranit barracks. There were no reports of casualties in Hebrew media after the group’s attacks.
The IDF hit back by targeting compounds and buildings used by Hezbollah in the southern Lebanese towns of Khiam, Mansouri, Aalma al-Shaab and Yater overnight. Lebanese media didn’t report any casualties.
Since the outbreak of the Israeli war on Gaza last October, Hezbollah and its allies began launching near-daily attacks against the IDF in support of the Hamas Movement and other Palestinian armed factions in the Strip.
The border clashes have resulted in eight civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of at least ten IDF soldiers and reservists. On the Lebanese side, more than 400 people have been killed, including 260 fighters of Hezbollah and at least 70 civilians.
The latest escalation on the border came following an unprecedented missile and rocket attack by Iran, Hezbollah’s main backer, against Israel as well as amid plans by the IDF to expand ground operations in Gaza to the densely populated area of Rafah on the border with Egypt.
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the fucking mullahs are already clever, they bombard israel with 300 drones as decoys and set their hits with very few missiles. -damn it!
for israel, a billion-dollar damage is caused by fired patriot missiles. -shit!
the mullahs have the trick with the drones learned from the rushnyk flatheads. we have the problem in kharkiv every night. our guys get the drones down, then the rushnyk rockets come and smash everything. but they don’t meet our air defense, which is cleverly hidden behind civilians in residential areas, because the orcs don’t dare attacking civilians
“your guys”? here’s to hoping an iskandar comes your way
the plastic dome intercepted 120% of the missiles
about time that hezbollah starts to take out some prominent israelis