Israel says it wants to neutralize Hezbollah in southern Lebanon to allow the return of some 60,000 of its inhabitants.
The Israeli army announced Monday that it had “eliminated” a local Hezbollah commander in southern Lebanon, where it is carrying out a campaign of intense bombings and ground incursions against the Lebanese Islamist movement.
The army “struck and eliminated Abu Ali Rida, the commander of the Baraachit region, in southern Lebanon,” it said in a statement.
Abu Ali Rida “was responsible for planning and carrying out rocket and anti-tank missile attacks against Israeli troops and oversaw Hezbollah's terrorist activities in the region,” the army added.
In recent weeks, the Israeli army has killed several military leaders and senior officials of the pro-Iranian group, including its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, on September 27 in a major strike on its headquarters in Beirut.
The war that has been raging since October 7, 2023 in the Gaza Strip has spread to Lebanon, where Israel has been carrying out massive airstrikes against Hezbollah, an ally of Palestinian Hamas since September 23, accompanied since September 30 by a land offensive in the south.
Israel says it wants to neutralize Hezbollah in southern Lebanon to allow the return of some 60,000 inhabitants of the north of its territory displaced by incessant rocket fire since the start of the war in Gaza.
At least 1,940 people have been killed since September 23 in Lebanon, according to an AFP count based on official data.
At least 72 people have been killed by rocket fire on northern Israel since October 7, 2023 and at least 38 Israeli soldiers have been killed in southern Lebanon since the ground offensive began on September 30, also according to an AFP count based on official data.
