IDF: ‘New Hezbollah targets’ reached in expanded south Lebanon ground operation
Rockets, drones target swaths of northern Israel as fighter jets strike buildings in Beirut after evacuation warnings; IDF says several Hezbollah field commanders killed recently
The military said Wednesday that it has further expanded its ground operation in southern Lebanon, as it continued to carry out airstrikes in Beirut while Hezbollah fired rockets and drones at northern Israel.
The Israel Defense Forces said that its 91st Division was reaching “new targets” belonging to Hezbollah. It said commandos operating with the division raided several new areas, as other brigades continued “defensive and offensive activities in the area.”
A day earlier, the IDF said that the 36th Division has also expanded ground operations in southern Lebanon.
Meanwhile, Israeli fighter jets continued to strike Hezbollah targets in the southern suburbs of Beirut after issuing an evacuation warning for six buildings in the area. AFPTV footage showed a plume of black smoke rising over the area that was struck, about an hour after the army told residents of parts of the southern suburbs to leave. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Separately, an Israeli airstrike on an apartment building in the town of Aramoun, just south of Beirut, killed at least six people and wounded 15 others, Lebanon’s health ministry said.
The state-run National News Agency reported that there were children missing after the strike and it wasn’t clear if they were under the rubble or had been taken to a hospital. There was no warning issued before the strike, and it was not immediately clear what the target was.
Swaths of northern Israel were targeted by drone and rocket attacks throughout Wednesday morning, with the IDF saying that at least three drones were intercepted without causing any injuries. Rockets also set off sirens throughout the Upper Galilee, including a barrage of around 20 rockets. Some impacted, including on a home in Ma’alot-Tarshiha, causing damage but no injuries.
The IDF said Wednesday that it struck dozens of rocket launchers in Lebanon, including ones used in a deadly attack on Nahariya and long-range fire on central Israel on Tuesday.
Overnight, Israeli fighter jets struck Hezbollah weapon depots and command centers in Beirut’s southern suburbs, the IDF added. The Hezbollah sites were located “in the heart of a civilian population,” the military said, accusing the terror group of using human shields.
The IDF also revealed on Wednesday that several Hezbollah field commanders were killed in recent airstrikes in southern Lebanon.
According to the IDF, in early October, a strike carried out by fighter jets killed Muhammad Musa Salah, identified as the commander of Hezbollah’s forces in the Khiam region of southern Lebanon. (Another Hezbollah commander responsible specifically for the town of Khiam was killed earlier this month).
Salah was responsible for over 2,500 rocket launches at the Golan Heights, Upper Galilee and Galilee Panhandle during the war, as well as attacks on IDF troops in south Lebanon, the military said.
Another strike on Sunday killed Ayman Muhammad Nabulsi, whom the IDF identified as the commander of Hezbollah’s anti-tank missile unit in the Hajjar regional unit, which is responsible for attacks on northern Israel’s Ramim Ridge region. (Another commander of the anti-tank unit was killed late last month in a separate strike).
Separate strikes killed Hajj Ali Yussef Salah, the commander of Hezbollah’s forces in the village of Kfar Tebnit, and another unnamed commander responsible for the Ghajar area, the military added.
Hezbollah’s attacks on northern Israel since October 2023 have resulted in the deaths of 43 civilians. In addition, 62 IDF soldiers and reservists have been killed, including 36 slain during the ground operation that Israel began in September.
More than 3,300 people have been killed in Lebanon since the clashes began last year, according to the Lebanon Health Ministry, the majority of them since late September, a figure which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians but is likely to be incomplete, with Hezbollah ceasing to update its death toll with the escalation of violence. The IDF estimates that some 3,000 Hezbollah operatives have been killed in the conflict over the past year.
