View of Israeli strikes on Sunday on the perpetrators of Iqlim al-Touffah. Photo provided by Mountasser Abdallah.
The Israeli air force launched a series of intense airstrikes Sunday on several areas in the Nabatieh region and the heights of Iqlim al-Tuffah, following drone strikes on Kauthariyet al-Siyyad and Houla, according to L’Orient Today’s correspondent in southern Lebanon.
The drone strikes earlier in the day killed two people, who the Israeli army claims were Hezbollah members. One of the strikes, on Kauthariyet al-Siyyad (Saida district), killed Hussein Ali Nasr, whom the Israeli military claimed was the deputy head of Hezbollah’s Unit 4400. Two others were injured, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.
According to Avichay Adraee, the Israeli army’s Arabic-language spokesperson, Nasr was involved in smuggling weapons and funds into Lebanon to strengthen Hezbollah’s military capabilities. Adraee claimed Nasr worked with Iranian entities to move weapons and cash through Beirut's international airport and was also active on the Lebanese-Syrian border. The Israeli army noted that during the 13-month conflict with Hezbollah, it had already killed the commander of Unit 4400, Mohammad Jaafar Kassir, and his deputy, Ali Hassan Gharib.
In Houla (Marjayoun), another drone strike hit the courtyard of a house and killed what Israel described as “the head of Hezbollah’s engineering unit in the Odaisseh region,” according to Adraee.
Hezbollah has not commented on the strikes.
By the afternoon, Israeli warplanes bombed areas between the villages of Bassalia and Jbaa in Nabatieh, the outskirts of Mlita and Jabal Safi in Iqlim al-Tuffah, and Sojod in the Jezzine district, following other strikes on Arnoun. The bombings, described by local sources as among “the most violent” since mid-February, were heard as far as Iqlim al-Kharroub and Saida. One Lebanese soldier was injured in Arnoun.
On Sunday evening, the Israeli army said it had targeted “missile launch platforms and military infrastructure” belonging to Hezbollah in the Nabatieh region, claiming “combatants were located at the sites.”
Despite a cease-fire that took effect in late November, Israel continues to strike Lebanon almost daily, primarily in the South. Since then, at least 146 people have been killed in Lebanon by Israeli strikes and gunfire, according to L’Orient Today’s count. The United Nations has confirmed 71 civilians killed.
President Joseph Aoun monitored the developments in the South alongside army commander Gen. Rodolph Haykal, according to a statement from the presidency.
