IDF names second senior Hezbollah commander killed in Saturday strikes, mum on overnight fire

The Israel Defense Forces says it killed a senior Hezbollah commander in an Israeli airstrike in the southern Lebanon town of Deir al-Zahrani yesterday.

The statement from the IDF does not acknowledge claims of overnight strikes in southern Lebanon, after Lebanese media reported heavy explosions in the Ali Taher ridge area for a second day in a row.

The IDF says the Saturday morning strike on Ali Muhammad Fakhr al-Din came in response to a Hezbollah explosive drone attack in the pre-dawn hours Saturday that seriously wounded three soldiers.

Lebanese media reported that the Deir al-Zahrani strike on Saturday morning killed two people.

Al-Din, also known as Abu Hassan Alaa, is identified by the IDF as a “senior commander” in Hezbollah’s Badr regional division. The regional unit is tasked with the area north of the Litani River.

The IDF says that as part of his role, Hassan Alaa took part in numerous attacks on Israeli troops in southern Lebanon.

Eleven people were killed in Israeli strikes Saturday in response to the drone attack, according to Lebanese media, including civilians.

The IDF announced earlier that among those killed Saturday was Ali Samir Al-Haj Hassan, a battalion commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force, who was hit in a strike in the town of Ansar.