Monday, July 29, 2024

2 Hezbollah members killed as region braces for IDF response to deadly Golan attack


2 Hezbollah members killed as region braces for IDF response to deadly Golan attack



Two Hezbollah operatives were killed in an Israel Defense Forces drone strike in southern Lebanon on Monday morning, as the region braced for a fierce Israeli response to a rocket attack by the terror group over the weekend that killed 12 children.

Lebanese rescue services said two people were killed and three were wounded, including a child, in the attack between the southern Lebanon towns of Mays al-Jabal and Shaqra.

According to Lebanese media, the strike targeted a car and a motorcycle.

The IDF did not immediately issue a statement on the reports.

Following the attack, Hezbollah announced the deaths of two members killed “on the road to Jerusalem,” its term for operatives slain in Israeli strikes.

They were named as Abbas Hijazi, from Majdel Selm, and Abbas Salami, from Khirbet Selm.

Their deaths brought the terror group’s toll since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip to at least 383.

They were the first operatives killed in an IDF strike since Saturday, when four members of the terror group’s elite Radwan force were killed. After that, Hezbollah carried out the rocket attack on the Golan Heights town of Majdal Shams that killed 12 children and teens.

Israel has vowed retaliation against Hezbollah, and Israeli jets hit targets in southern Lebanon early Sunday and reportedly shelled sites there just after midnight Monday.

On Sunday night, Israeli ministers authorized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense chief to decide on the “manner and timing” of the response.

According to reports in Hebrew-language media on Monday, the potential responses were not shown to ministers, fearing they would be leaked.

Meanwhile, a barrage of rockets was fired Monday from Lebanon at the Gomeh Junction area, just south of Kiryat Shmona, the IDF said.

Hezbollah took responsibility for the attack, claiming to have targeted an Israeli military position in response to the deadly strike near Shaqra.





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