IDF says Wednesday Lebanon strikes killed 180 Hezbollah operatives; Lebanese toll climbs to 357

The IDF provides new details on its wide-scale strikes against Hezbollah across Lebanon on Wednesday, saying it killed at least 180 members of the terror group.

Lebanon’s health ministry reported that the strikes killed 357. It did not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

The strikes hit around 100 Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon, the Beqaa Valley, and Beirut, according to the military. The IDF says the strikes were carried out based on “precise, high-quality intelligence,” which enabled “simultaneous strikes in multiple areas within just one minute.”

The IDF says the strikes caused “a significant and deep blow” to Hezbollah.

“Following an initial intelligence assessment by the Military Intelligence Directorate, it can be determined that the IDF has eliminated more than 180 terrorists from the Hezbollah terror organization,” the IDF says, adding that it is continuing to verify additional deaths, meaning the true number may be higher.

The IDF says that the targets included more than 45 “central headquarters” and another 40 buildings used by the terror group to advance attacks on Israel, alongside other infrastructure belonging to the terror group’s leadership.

In Beirut alone, the IDF says it struck 35 Hezbollah sites, including an emergency headquarters of the terror group’s intelligence division, a headquarters of the elite Radwan Force, and a headquarters of the group’s missile unit.

In south Lebanon, the military says the strikes hit several weapon depots. And in the Beqaa Valley, the IDF struck several headquarters of the Radwan Force and Hezbollah’s intelligence division.

The military says that most of the Hezbollah sites were located “within the heart of a civilian population, as part of the cynical exploitation by the Hezbollah terror organization of Lebanese civilians as human shields.”

The IDF says it took steps to “minimize harm to civilians” in the strikes. According to Lebanese health authorities, among the dead in Wednesday’s strikes were women and children.