Clashes between Hezbollah, Israeli army north of Bint Jbeil and 'buffer zone'

BEIRUT — Hezbollah said Wednesday that clashes have taken place in recent days with Israeli troops attempting to advance toward Haddatha, north of Bint Jbeil and beyond the “buffer zone” Israel is imposing in southern Lebanon. The Israeli army has so far not commented on the series of clashes and ambushes claimed by Hezbollah, nor on what the group described as Israeli “attempts to advance” toward the village in the central sector of the border strip.

Sources cited by our correspondent in the South, Muntasser Abdallah, reported hearing machine-gun fire and rockets near the village over the past several days.

In two statements released overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, Hezbollah said it had fought Israeli soldiers attempting to advance on Haddatha, located about 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) north of Bint Jbeil, which Israel occupies and has largely razed.

The group first said it “engaged at 10:15 p.m. Tuesday an Israeli force attempting to advance toward the outskirts of Haddatha square, with medium weapons and rockets,” claiming it inflicted casualties and destroyed a Merkava tank.

According to a second statement, the clashes continued as Israeli fighter jets and drones “attempted to intervene to rescue” the soldiers.

Hezbollah later said the fighting had continued for several days, in a lengthy account of operations it said it had recently carried out in the area.

The group accused the Israeli army of attempting “for several days” to destroy the village’s “resistance defenses” through intensive airstrikes, concentrated artillery shelling, explosives, bulldozers and engineering vehicles.

Hezbollah said it carried out a series of attacks against repeated Israeli attempts to advance into and occupy Haddatha, as well as against reinforcement teams sent by Israeli forces. The group claimed those operations destroyed four Merkava tanks and forced Israeli troops to retreat toward Rshaf.

As direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel are expected to continue in June in Washington under the auspices of the Trump administration, Israeli ground forces have in recent days pushed deeper into southern Lebanon, where they are imposing a “buffer zone” covering nearly 6% of Lebanese territory. Troops have crossed north of the Litani River and moved beyond the “yellow line” marking the zone, reaching the outskirts of villages in the Nabatieh region. They also appear to be seeking to advance in the central sector.

Heavy daily toll

Beyond the close-range fighting described by Hezbollah, southern Lebanon continued Wednesday to see deadly Israeli bombardments that killed at least 18 people and wounded three others, according to information gathered by our correspondent.

The toll adds to that of the previous day, when an Israeli strike on Deir Qanoun al-Nahr alone killed 13 people and wounded two others, according to a preliminary toll.

Among Wednesday’s deadliest attacks, Israeli warplanes struck Habboush and Doueir, in the Nabatieh district. The strike on Doueir killed five people.

Israeli jets also bombed a cattle farm between Abbasieh and Burj Rahhal, in the Sour district, and the area surrounding Tibnin Governmental Hospital, in the Bint Jbeil district, where four people were killed.

In Ghandourieh, also in the Bint Jbeil district, an Israeli airstrike killed at least four people. In Sultanieh, in the same district, Israeli strikes killed two people and wounded another. In the Sour district, one person was killed in Burj al-Shemali, while Israeli attacks on Jabal al-Botom killed two people and wounded two others.

Israel also ordered the evacuation of Deir Zahrani and Habboush, in the Nabatieh district, areas that have been repeatedly bombed in recent weeks.

The Israeli army also carried out a rare demolition near Kfar Shuba, in the Hasbaya district in the eastern sector, an area that had not previously been subjected to the systematic demolitions Israeli forces have carried out inside the occupied zone.