Scene of destruction in Wata el-Khiam following recent fighting between Hezbollah and the Israeli army, Nov. 3, 2024. (Credit: Muntasser Abdallah/L'Orient Today)
The 20 people who had been reported missing since the start of last week in Khiam, in the Marjayoun district of southern Lebanon, have been confirmed dead, according to rescuers from the International and Lebanese Red Cross, who were contacted by the municipal council president of Wazzani, where they were originally from.
Ahmad Chehadeh al-Mohammad, a mokhtar (a local official responsible for records) of the border village of Wazzani, told our correspondent Muntasser Abdallah that a rescue team from the International and Lebanese Red Cross traveled to Khiam to search for these two families, with whom all contact had been lost since Monday evening when the Israeli army began its advance on Khiam.
The 21 missing individuals, 20 Lebanese from Wazzani and one Syrian worker, had remained in Khiam, where their homes in the Wata el-Khiam neighborhood were destroyed during clashes between the Israeli army and Hezbollah, as well as airstrikes. According to the mokhtar, the 20 missing persons have been confirmed dead. Residents of Khiam who managed to reach the area also informed our correspondent that five bodies have been extracted from the rubble so far. The security situation, marked by intense fighting between the Israeli army and Hezbollah, along with numerous airstrikes and artillery fire, had prevented any prior rescue operation. The victims were working on village farmland. Two more people were also killed in Khiam on Saturday in an Israeli strike, according to local sources from our correspondent.
Hezbollah commander killed
The Israeli army began its advance on Khiam on Monday night, in the Marjayoun district. Khiam is the deepest point into Lebanese territory that Israeli forces attempted to infiltrate but were ultimately unsuccessful. From Monday to Friday, Hezbollah claimed dozens of attacks on Israeli troops and vehicles around the area. By Saturday morning, sources familiar with the situation told our correspondent that the unit attempting to take Khiam had withdrawn.
Sources familiar with the developments on the ground reported that there is no longer any Israeli armed presence on the outskirts of Khiam, which had been attempting to advance on the village from the southeast and southwest. According to these sources, two additional people were killed in the locality following an airstrike on Saturday.
The Israeli army announced via a post on X by its Arabic-speaking spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, that it had ''eliminated Farouk Amine el-Achi,'' the Hezbollah commander for the Khiam region. According to the Israeli statement, this fighter was ''responsible for rocket and guided missile fire'' targeting Israeli border villages, including Metula. Youssef Ahmad Noun, another commander of Hezbollah’s elite al-Radwan unit in Khiam, was also killed, according to Adraee.
This article was originally published in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.
