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After Hezbollah attack on Israeli town leaves three injured, IDF kills terrorist commander in airstrike.
By: World Israel News Staff
A senior Hezbollah terrorist was killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon Tuesday, following a series of Hezbollah attacks on Israel.
Ismail Yusuf Baz, commander of Hezbollah’s coastal operations, was killed when Israeli aircraft struck a vehicle driving through the town of Ain Ebel near the Israeli-Lebanese frontier.
Shortly after the airstrike, a source in Hezbollah informed AFP that a regional commander had been killed.
“The field commander in charge of the Naqura region has been martyred in an Israeli strike,” the Hezbollah official said.
Hezbollah confirmed in a public statement that a “combatant” affiliated with the group was killed in the airstrike, but declined to identify him.
Baz had orchestrated rocket and anti-tank missile attacks on Israel from the western portion of Lebanon’s border with Israel, and Israeli army spokesperson said following the airstrike.
Later on Tuesday, a second Israeli airstrike was reported in southern Lebanon, this time targeting a vehicle driving through Chehabiyeh.
The Israeli airstrikes came after attack drones launched by Hezbollah penetrated Israeli airspace and hit Moshav Beit Hillel in northern Israel, leaving three people injured.
“Two explosive drones crossed from Lebanese territory towards Israeli territory and exploded in the area of Beit Hillel. The incident is under investigation,” the Israel Defense Forces confirmed in an X post.
Hezbollah fired over 100 rockets towards northern Israel on Saturday, as Iran launched some 300 missiles and attack drones towards the Jewish state.
On Sunday night, four IDF soldiers were wounded, including one seriously, in an explosion during operational activity in the border area.
Hezbollah claimed responsibility, saying that it had placed several explosive devices along the border inside Lebanese territory near Kibbutz Adamit.
WIN also reported on Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke out for the first time on Iran’s massive missile and drone attack on Israel over the weekend, urging restraint from “all sides.”
In a statement issued by the Kremlin, Putin called on both sides to demonstrate “reasonable restraint,” warning of “catastrophic consequences” for the Middle East if tensions continue to escalate.
“Vladimir Putin expressed hope that all sides would show reasonable restraint and prevent a new round of confrontation fraught with catastrophic consequences for the entire region,” the Kremlin said.
Putin spoke by phone with his Iranian counterpart, Ebrahim Raisi, the statement said, citing the Iranian president’s claim that the unprecedented Iranian attacks on Israel Saturday were “retaliatory measures taken by Iran.”
“Ebrahim Raisi noted that Iran’s actions were forced and limited in nature.”
“At the same time, he stressed Tehran’s disinterest in further escalation of tensions.”
The Kremlin blamed the Israeli-Arab conflict, and in particular the ongoing war between Israel and the Hamas terror organization, for growing regional tensions.
“Both sides stated that the root cause of the current events in the Middle East is the unresolved Palestinian-Israeli conflict.”
“In this regard, the principled approaches of Russia and Iran in favour of an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, easing the difficult humanitarian situation, and creating conditions for a political and diplomatic settlement of the crisis were confirmed.”
Iranian forces launched some 300 ballistic missiles and war drones towards Israel Saturday, marking the first time the Islamic republic has directly attacked Israel from Iranian territory.
Israel, assisted by American, French, British, Jordanian, and Saudi forces, intercepted more than 99% of the incoming projectiles before they reached their targets.
According to IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, one Israeli military facility was lightly damaged in the attack, and one civilian, a seven-year-old Arab-Israeli girl, was seriously injured in the attack.
