Israel says it has eliminated half of Hezbollah’s commanders in southern Lebanon. “The other half is hiding”

The Israeli army is carrying out an “offensive action” in southern Lebanon, where its air force and artillery hit 40 Hezbollah targets and killed half of the Lebanese group’s commanders in the sector, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Wednesday. AFP and Reuters report, according to Agerpres.

“Troops are deployed in large numbers at the border, and the armed forces are currently launching offensive actions in southern Lebanon,” said Yoav Gallant in a statement.

“Half of the Hezbollah commanders in southern Lebanon have been eliminated, the other half are hiding and leaving the field open for Israeli military operations,” he added.

It was not immediately clear whether Israeli troops had entered Lebanese territory.

The Lebanese pro-Iranian movement did not react to the Israeli statements for the time being.

Since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas on October 7, Hezbollah has launched almost daily attacks against Israel to support the Palestinian Islamist movement, its ally.

The Israeli military is retaliating by bombing deeper and deeper into Lebanese territory and launching targeted attacks against Hezbollah officials.

“Recently, Israeli warplanes and artillery hit about 40 Hezbollah terrorist targets” around Aita al-Shaab in southern Lebanon, including weapons depots, the army said in a statement earlier.

Hezbollah “created dozens of terrorist means and infrastructures in the region” to attack Israel, she added.

The official Lebanese news agency ANI reported 13 Israeli strikes near Aita al-Shaab.

“Israeli military planes launched more than 13 airstrikes that targeted the outskirts of the cities of Aita al-Shaab, Ramya, Jabal Balat and Khallet Warda,” the agency said.

Hezbollah announced on Tuesday that it had fired dozens of rockets into northern Israel in retaliation for the death of two civilians in southern Lebanon in a strike blamed on the Israeli army.

Publisher: CLB

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