The Israeli military said artillery and fighter jet strikes had hit around 40 targets in southern Lebanon on Wednesday as the intense fighting of recent days continued to escalate. The Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel have been waging their worst hostilities in nearly two decades since war erupted in Gaza last October.
This has raised concern about the risk of a wider and more destructive conflict between the heavily armed foes. The Israeli military said the strikes in the area of Ayta al-Shaab, about 3 km inside the Lebanese border, had hit infrastructure including storage facilities and weapons in an area it said was used extensively by Hezbollah forces.
If you’re Hezbollah, you need to avoid southern Lebanon, or stay.Earlier today, watch pic.twitter.com/pbBOS0cKRk
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) April 21, 2024
“There is continuous offensive action by IDF forces in all of southern Lebanon as well as in other parts of Lebanon. The operational results are very impressive,” Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said in a statement following an operational meeting at the military’s Northern Command.
He said half of Hezbollah’s commanders in southern Lebanon had been killed by Israeli forces. A Hezbollah official dismissed the assertion as “completely worthless” and aimed only to boost Israeli morale. He said the group regularly published pictures and biographical details of fighters killed in the fighting. On Wednesday, the movement held a funeral for a senior commander, Hussein Azkoul, killed earlier this week by Israel.
Southern Lebanon:40 Hezbollah terrorist targets were struck a short while ago, including storage facilities, weaponry and additional terror infrastructures used by the Hezbollah terrorist organization in the area.— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) April 24, 2024
Speaking at the funeral, senior Hezbollah politician Hassan Fadlallah indicated that Azkoul had played a role in developing Hezbollah’s drone and missile capabilities, taking the battle with Israel into “a new phase”. The Israeli strikes came a day after Hezbollah launched a drone attack on Israeli military bases north of the Israeli coastal city of Acre, its deepest strike yet in the hostilities that have flared in parallel to the Gaza war.
The attack appeared to be one of the most complicated announced by Hezbollah during the last six months, using drones designed to keep Israeli air defences busy while others laden with explosives were flown at the Israeli targets.
(With agency inputs)
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