Smoke rises from an Israeli air strike on Dahiyah, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, on the morning of Friday, November 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussain Malla) Photo Credit: AP
Israeli naval forces have captured a senior Hezbollah militant in northern Lebanon, an Israeli military official said Saturday, as the conflict between the Iran-backed group and Israel shows few signs of abating.
Earlier on Saturday, Lebanese officials said they were investigating whether Israel was behind the capture of a Lebanese sea captain who was rescued by a group of armed men who landed on the coast near the northern city of Batroun on Friday. Had taken.
“The operative has been transferred to Israeli territory and is currently being investigated,” the military official said, without naming the detained individual.
The operation marks the first time Israel has announced it has deployed troops to northern Lebanon to capture a senior Hezbollah operative after clashes escalated between the two sides in late September. Since then, the Israeli military launched a ground offensive into southern Lebanon and stepped up its airstrikes across the country, including southern Beirut and the eastern Bekaa Valley, killing most of Hezbollah’s senior commanders.
Hezbollah issued a statement calling what happened a “Zionist offensive in the Batroun area.” The statement did not provide details or confirm whether any Hezbollah members were captured by Israel.
Two Lebanese military officers confirmed this The Associated Press That a naval force landed in Batroun, about 30 kilometers (18 mi) north of Beirut, and abducted a Lebanese civilian. Neither the identity of the person nor whether it appears he is related to anyone Lebanon’s Hezbollah groupHe did not confirm whether the armed men were Israeli forces.
Three Lebanese judicial officials told the AP that the operation took place early Friday, adding that the captain may have ties to Hezbollah. Officials said an investigation was underway to determine whether the man was affiliated with Hezbollah or working for an Israeli spy agency and that Israeli forces had come to rescue him.
Both military and judicial officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were unauthorized to share details about the incident or the ongoing investigation.
Shortly after Israel went public about the operation, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati asked the Lebanese Foreign Minister to file a complaint against Israel with the United Nations Security Council.
Israel has done this before commando operation inside lebanon Kidnapping or killing Hezbollah and Palestinian officials.
Recalling the incident, Lebanese residents of the apartment building where the man was captured said that the armed group presented itself as state security.
“We were scared. They were breaking into the apartment next to ours,” Hussein Delbani told The Associated Press, where the man was captured. “I thought some state agency was running a security operation,” said Delbani, who was displaced from southern Lebanon when the Israel-Hezbollah war began a month ago.
He said he saw people on the shore below from his balcony and they began shouting again to him to go inside.
Hami reported that the man, al-Jadid, was the captain of civilian ships. He graduated in 2022 and joined Batrun’s Institute of Marine Science and Technology for additional courses in late September. Hami said the man lived about 300 meters (980 ft) away from the institute.
Hami’s comments came after two Lebanese journalists posted a video on social media showing about 20 armed men carrying a man away from in front of a house, his face covered with his shirt.
Candice Ardeel, a spokeswoman for the UN peacekeeping force deployed in southern Lebanon, denied allegations by some local journalists, who said the peacekeepers helped the landing force in the operation. The United Nations mission, known as UNIFIL, has a maritime force that patrols the coast.
“Disinformation and false rumors are irresponsible and put peacekeepers at risk,” Ardill said.
Immediately after the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, Hezbollah began firing rockets, drones and missiles from Lebanon into Israel in solidarity with Hamas, triggering the war in Gaza. The year-long cross-border fighting escalated into full-scale war on October 1, when Israeli forces launched a ground offensive into southern Lebanon for the first time since 2006.
published – November 03, 2024 04:48 AM IST