This is the first Israeli attack on Beirut since Israel and Hezbollah agreed a ceasefire last month. The target of the latest operation was the leader of the Radwan Forces, an elite Hezbollah formation.
“Together with Defense Minister Israel Katz, I ordered an attack in Beirut on the commander of the Radwan Forces of the terrorist organization Hezbollah to eliminate him. Radwan terrorists are responsible for shelling Israeli settlements and attacks on IDF soldiers. No terrorist has immunity – the long hand of Israel will reach out to every enemy and murderer. We promised safety to the northerners – that's what we do and that's what we will do!” – writes Binyamin Netanyahu.
A video from the scene of the attack appeared on social media.
The death toll in Lebanon is rising
On Wednesday, the Ministry of Health in Beirut reported that four people were killed in Israeli shelling of a village in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon. The shelling began just before Israel ordered the evacuation of this and 11 other villages.
According to the Lebanese website Naharnet, the victims – including two women – died in the town of Zillaja. Lebanese news agency NNA reported that the attack targeted the house of the head of the local administration.
The Israeli army assured that the target of the operation was the infrastructure of the Hezbollah terrorist organization, including weapons warehouses, the Jerusalem Post reported, adding that two Israeli soldiers were injured in southern Lebanon on Wednesday.
Pro-Iranian Hezbollah attacked Israeli troops in at least three locations, Naharnet reported, recalling that the pro-Iranian group began shelling Israel in the first days of March, to which Israel responded with airstrikes and launched a land invasion of southern Lebanon, dominated by the Shiite population supporting Hezbollah.
