Israel says it eliminated 3 top Hezbollah commanders in southern Lebanon

Image Source: Google

Israel on Sunday said it eliminated three commanders of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.“The Commander of Hezbollah’s Bint Jbeil Area, Ahmed Jafar Maatouk, was eliminated in an IAF strike. A day later, the IAF also eliminated his successor and Hezbollah's head of artillery in the Bint Jbeil area,” the Israel Defence Forces said in an X post.

“These three terrorists directed and carried out numerous terrorist attacks from the Bint Jbeil area including launching anti-tank missiles toward Israeli civilians and IDF troops operating in southern Lebanon,” the IDF added.

Israel continues to pound Hezbollah targets in Lebanon

Israel on Sunday bombarded Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, a day after its airstrikes on Iran. According to an AFP report, the Israeli military said it killed 70 Hezbollah fighters and struck 120 targets in southern Lebanon and carried out "precision strikes" on weapons factories and storage facilities in the Iran-backed group's southern Beirut stronghold over the past day.

Smoke hung over the suburbs of Beirut after overnight strikes, which came after the Israeli military issued new evacuation warnings.

The Lebanese news agency reported bombing in the southern cities of Tyre and Nabatiyeh.

The war has left at least 1,615 people dead in Lebanon since September 23, according to an AFP tally based on official figures, though the real number is likely to be higher due to gaps in the data.

Th Israeli military said four of its soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon, bringing to 36 the total number of Israeli soldiers killed since the start of ground operations on September 30.

In another development, Hezbollah said it fired rockets at a military base in northern Israel, a day after it declared several areas in the region a "legitimate target" due to the presence of Israeli troops.

The Iran-backed group said it targeted a "military industries base north of Haifa... with a large rocket salvo", after it issued an evacuation warning on Saturday for large swathes of northern Israel.