The Israeli army captured a Lebanese “high-ranking Hezbollah operative” on Saturday in an operation led by an elite navy unit in Batroun, a town north of Beirut, 140 km north of the border. maritime with the Hebrew State. Many questions arose during the day after an unidentified “naval commando” kidnapped a Lebanese man in this coastal town in Lebanon, torn apart by a war between Israel and Hezbollah. The IDF cleared the doubts a few hours later.
“During a special operation led by Shayetet 13 in the Lebanese town of Batroun, a high-ranking Hezbollah agent was apprehended,” a military official said in a statement. The man, whose name was not made public, “was transferred to Israeli territory” and “is currently under investigation,” added the 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. This is the first time that such an incident has taken place since the violence began more than a year ago.
According to the Ani agency, citing residents, “a military force” had carried out a “landing from the sea on the coast of Batroun”. She went with all her weapons to a bungalow near the beach, kidnapping a Lebanese man before heading out into the open sea on a speedboat.
The French-speaking Lebanese site L'Orient-Le Jour had broadcast images from surveillance cameras of the kidnapping, a video that should however be taken with caution. The media outlet was unable to “independently” identify them. A civilian is taken away by force by around fifteen armed men.
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.
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.
The Christian town of Batroun has so far been spared the devastating Israeli bombings which since September 23 have mainly targeted Hezbollah strongholds in the south and east of Lebanon as well as in the southern suburbs of Beirut. More than 1,900 people have been killed since that date in Lebanon, according to an AFP count based on data from the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
