Israeli media reported that the Israeli army launched, at dawn today, Sunday, a large wave of air strikes and artillery shelling on the Ali al-Taher Hills area in southern Lebanon, after an officer and two Israeli soldiers were injured by the explosion of a booby-trapped drone at dawn yesterday, Saturday.
According to a report prepared by journalists Guy Varon, Nitzan Shapira, and Sapir Lipkin on Israeli Channel 12, along with information reported by the Ynet website, the area witnessed intense raids that were described in Lebanon as a “belt of fire,” while local recordings showed successive explosions and thick clouds of smoke.
The raids targeted the vicinity of the Ali al-Taher hills and the towns of Rumine and Deir Sarayan, coinciding with extensive artillery shelling targeting the area and other sites, amid reports that also spoke of Israeli ground activity.
The Israeli army had informed the residents of Kiryat Shmona and the towns of the Galilee that they would hear “echoes of strong explosions” throughout the hours of the night, as a result of widespread military activity that included air strikes and heavy artillery shelling. The Northern Command and the Israeli local authorities confirmed that there had been no change in the assessment of the situation or the instructions directed to civilians.
According to the Israeli account, the developments began around 02:30 on Saturday morning, when Hezbollah members launched an explosives-laden drone towards an Israeli force that was operating in the Ali al-Taher Hills inside Lebanese territory.
An officer and two soldiers from the “Yahlom” unit of the Engineering Corps were injured in the explosion, and they were taken to “Rambam” Hospital in Haifa. It was reported that two of the injured were in serious condition and were placed under anesthesia and artificial respiration in the intensive care unit, while the third injured person’s condition stabilized and was classified as moderate.
Israeli media describe the Ali al-Taher Hills as one of the most complex combat zones for the Israeli army inside Lebanon, especially because of the underground facilities. According to Israeli Channel 12, the area includes a large and strategic compound belonging to Hezbollah, in which about 40 members of the party were trapped inside until recently, while Israeli forces carried out search, combing and targeting operations above the ground.
Following the injury of the soldiers, the Israeli army announced the targeting of Hezbollah’s central headquarters in the town of Ansar. It said that Ali Hassan, a battalion commander in the “Radwan Force,” was present inside. The army claimed that it killed Hassan along with other elements that it said were working to prepare operations against its forces in the security zone.
The Israeli army indicated that members of Hassan’s family were inside the building at the time of the raid and that they were injured, claiming that they were not the target of the attack, and that Hassan used his family as “human shields” and hid with them inside the military headquarters.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office had issued an exceptional statement in English, in which it accused Hezbollah of violating the ceasefire by targeting Israeli soldiers, and said that the army responded by bombing the headquarters that issued the order to carry out the attack.
Between the wounding of the soldiers at dawn on Saturday and the expansion of the raids at dawn on Sunday, the confrontation in the Ali al-Taher Hills moved to a more intense level, amid a widespread Israeli air and artillery escalation in southern Lebanon.
