Israeli naval forces have captured a senior Hezbollah leader in northern Lebanon, an Israeli military official said Saturday, as the conflict between the Iran-backed group and Israel showed few signs of easing.
Earlier on Saturday, Lebanese authorities said they were investigating whether Israel was behind the capture of a Lebanese ship captain who was taken away by a group of armed men who had landed on the coast near the town on Friday of Batroun, in the north of the country.
“The agent was transferred to Israeli territory and is currently under investigation,” the military official said, without providing the name of the person in custody.
The operation marks the first time Israel has announced it has deployed troops deep into northern Lebanon to capture a senior Hezbollah official since the conflict between the two sides escalated in late September. Since then, Israeli forces have begun a ground invasion of southern Lebanon and have intensified airstrikes across the country, including southern Beirut and the eastern Bekaa Valley, killing most of the country’s top commanders. Hezbollah.
Hezbollah issued a statement describing what happened as “Zionist aggression in the Batroun region.” The statement did not provide details or confirm whether any Hezbollah member was captured by Israel.
Two Lebanese military officials confirmed to the Associated Press (AP) that a naval force landed in Batroun, about 30 kilometers north of Beirut, and kidnapped a Lebanese citizen. None of them gave the man’s identity or said whether he was suspected of having links to the Lebanese group Hezbollah. They did not confirm whether the gunmen were Israeli forces.
Three Lebanese judicial officials told the AP that the operation took place at dawn Friday, adding that the captain may have ties to Hezbollah. Officials added that an investigation was underway to determine whether the man was linked to Hezbollah or working for an Israeli spy agency and that an Israeli force had come to rescue him.
The military and judicial officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to share details about the incident or the ongoing investigation.
An operation that provokes a reaction
Shortly after Israel made the operation public, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati called on the Lebanese Foreign Minister to file a complaint against Israel with the UN Security Council.
Israel has in the past carried out commando operations deep inside Lebanon to kidnap or kill Hezbollah officials and Palestinians.
Recalling the event, Lebanese residents of the building where the man was captured said the armed group presented itself as state security.
“We were terrified. They were breaking into the apartment next to ours,” Hussein Delbani told the Associated Press, near where the man was captured.
“I thought a state agency was carrying out a security operation,” said Mr. Delbani, who was displaced from southern Lebanon a month ago when the war between Israel and Hezbollah broke out.
He said he saw people on the coast from his balcony and they shouted at him again to come in.
Lebanese Minister of Public Works and Transport Ali Hamié told Al-Jadeed that the man was a captain of civilian ships. He graduated in 2022 and joined the Batroun Institute of Maritime Science and Technology at the end of September to take additional courses. Mr. Hamié said the man lived about 300 meters from the institute.
Mr. Hamié’s comments came shortly after two Lebanese journalists published a video on social media showing around 20 armed men taking a man away from outside a house, his face covered by his shirt.
Kandice Ardiel, spokesperson for the UN peacekeeping force deployed in southern Lebanon, denied allegations by some local journalists that the peacekeepers helped the landing force in the operation. The U.N. mission, known as UNIFIL, has a maritime force that monitors the coast.
“Disinformation and false rumors are irresponsible and endanger peacekeepers,” Ms. Ardiel said.
Hezbollah began firing rockets, drones and missiles from Lebanon towards Israel in solidarity with Hamas immediately after the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza. Year-long cross-border fighting escalated into a full-scale war on October 1, when Israeli forces launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon for the first time since 2006.
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