The Israeli army said it had captured a Lebanese “high-ranking Hezbollah operative” during an operation led by an elite navy unit in northern Beirut.
Israel confirmed on Saturday (November 2) that it had captured a “high-ranking Hezbollah agent” during an operation led by an elite navy unit in Batroun, north of Beirut, after a military source in Lebanon said state of the kidnapping of a “civilian” by a “naval commando”.
“During a special operation carried out by 'Shayetet 13' (“Flottilla-13″, the navy commandos) in the Lebanese town of Batroun, a high-ranking Hezbollah operative was apprehended,” a military official said in a press release.
The man “transferred to Israeli territory”
The man, whose name was not made public, “was transferred to Israeli territory” and “is currently the subject of an investigation”, added this official, speaking under cover of the anonymity.
He is considered an “expert in his field” and is being questioned by a military intelligence unit, he continued, without elaborating.
Earlier on Saturday, a military source in Lebanon announced to AFP that a “naval commando” had kidnapped a Lebanese “civilian” and that an investigation was underway to determine the circumstances of the kidnapping. Shortly after, a judicial official pointed the finger at Israel.
Without revealing the identity of the kidnapped Lebanese, the Lebanese national information agency (Ani) specified that the events took place Friday at dawn in Batroun, located around fifty kilometers from Beirut.
A first between Hezbollah and Israel
According to Ani, citing residents, “a military force” carried out a “landing from the sea on the coast of Batroun”. She “went with all her armament to a bungalow near the beach, kidnapping a Lebanese man before heading out into the open sea on a speedboat.”
An AFP photographer in Batroun on Saturday saw Lebanese soldiers inspecting the coast, near the building where the man was kidnapped.
A source close to the case in Batroun assured AFP that the kidnapped man was training at the Institute of Maritime Sciences and Technology (Marsati) and was around thirty years old. He resided in Institute accommodation.
This is the first time that such an operation has occurred since the start, more than a year ago, of violence between the Lebanese Islamist movement Hezbollah and Israel, who entered into open war on September 23.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to file a complaint with the UN Security Council, according to a statement issued by his office, specifying that the Lebanese army and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon were also carrying out investigations.
Jeanne Bulant with AFP Journalist BFMTV
