A car targeted by an Israeli airstrike on a road that links Naqoura to the city of Sour. (Eyewitness in the area via our correspondent)
BEIRUT — Three Hezbollah members were killed in an Israeli drone strike that targeted a car on Saturday morning on the coastal road linking the village of Naqoura (Sour district) to the city of Sour in south Lebanon, according to security sources relayed by our correspondent in the south.
The strike occurred on a main transit route for the UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon (UNIFIL). The peacekeeping force's deputy spokesperson Kandice Ardiel told L'Orient Today that the targeted road "is frequently used by both military and civilian peacekeepers."
Later, Hezbollah named its fighters who were killed in the strike: Farouq Harb from the village of Halloussiyeh, Abbas Khalil from the village of Sammaaiyeh and Hussein Badwi from the village of Deir Qanoun al-Ain.
The Israeli army confirmed on X that it "struck a vehicle in southern Lebanon" containing Hezbollah members who had "launched rockets into Israeli territory."
The Israeli army added that the victims were operating with the Imam Hussein Division, which is "affiliated with Iran and operates for Hezbollah."
What is the Imam Hussein division?
Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported in September 2023 citing Israeli intelligence officers that the Imam Hussein division, which is made up of sub-units operating in Syria, is a branch of Hezbollah and comprises one thousand members.
American website, Newsweek, says the division is linked to the expeditionary Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). A document shared with Newsweek by a member of an intelligence agency of a nation allied with the United States, suggests that the division "launched against Israel, including a surface-to-surface missile attack in January 2019, a rocket attack in June 2019 and an attempted drone attack on August 2019 that was said to have been intercepted" by Israel's army.
The document also stated that the Imam Hossein Division was founded by Iran's Quds Force commander Major General Qassem Soleimani in 2016. He was killed in a US strike in Iraq in January 2020. It also suggests this elite, secretive outfit played "a major role" in supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government against rebels and the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) during the civil war there.
A deadly 24 hours for Hezbollah
On Saturday, Hezbollah announced in a statement the death of four fighters, three on Saturday and one on Friday evening on the "path to Jerusalem" — a term the group uses to describe members killed in Israeli strikes. 229 Hezbollah members have been killed so far in Lebanon and Syria since the beginning of the skirmishes between the party and Israel on Oct. 8, the day after the start of the Gaza war.
Israel has been carrying out targeted strikes in Lebanon since January, killing Hezbollah officials and members.