Wearing Lebanese uniforms, some 20 Israeli commandos took part in Friday raid – report
Hezbollah-affiliated media says special forces were likely in area for reconnaissance before nabbing alleged terror operative, reiterates claim German Navy coordinated with Israel
New alleged details emerged on Sunday about an Israeli naval raid in northern Lebanon in which commandos captured a Hezbollah operative over the weekend, in a report by a publication affiliated with the Iran-backed terror group.
According to the Al-Akhbar report, operatives from the Navy’s Shayetet 13 commando unit were disguised as Lebanese security forces during the unusual raid in Batroun, south of Tripoli, some 140 kilometers (87 miles) north of Israel’s maritime border with Lebanon.
While the Israeli military has attacked northern Lebanon via airstrikes, its ground forces have been operating only in the country’s south.
The late Friday raid lasted a mere four minutes and involved some 20 operatives, along with several unidentified civilians, the report said, adding that some Israeli special forces had likely been in the area for reconnaissance and surveillance before the operation.
While surveillance footage from a nearby building apparently captured part of the Israeli commando raid, Al-Akhbar reported that recordings were deleted from the residential building from which the Hezbollah operative, Imad Amhaz, was captured.
The report also said that Lebanese investigators believe a young man riding a bicycle seen in the widely circulated footage of the operation was part of the Israeli commando unit.
The Hezbollah-affiliated outlet cast doubt on the Israel Defense Forces’ assertion that Amhaz is a “significant source of knowledge” in the terror group’s naval force.
The IDF said Amhaz was taken to Israel to be questioned by the Military Intelligence Directorate’s Unit 504 — which specializes in HUMINT, or human intelligence — on Hezbollah’s naval operations.
The Al-Akhbar report on Sunday also reiterated earlier accusations in Lebanese media that the German Navy operating within UN peacekeeping forces in the area had assisted with the Israeli raid.
UNIFIL, the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon, denied involvement in the operation, with an unnamed deputy spokesperson telling the Saudi channel Asharq News on Saturday that the organization “has no involvement in facilitating any kidnapping or any other violation of Lebanese sovereignty.”
The Friday raid came as Israel pressed on with its military campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon. The operation aims to allow the fade return of some 60,000 displaced residents of northern Israel who were evacuated from their homes near the Lebanon border shortly after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, amid fears Hezbollah would carry out a similar attack and persistent rocket fire by the terror group.
After warning for nearly a year that it would not tolerate the ongoing attacks, Israel launched a major operation against Hezbollah in September, eliminating much of its leadership and crippling some of its fighting capabilities.
In October, it launched a ground offensive in Lebanon’s south to clear the border area of terror infrastructure it said was to be used in an October 7-style attack on northern communities.
