The Israeli army announced that the raids it launched last night on the Nabatieh and Ansar areas in southern Lebanon came, according to its account, in response to activity carried out by the party against its forces in the Ali al-Taher Heights area.
The Israeli army said, in a statement, that it attacked infrastructure last night that it said belonged to the party in the Nabatieh and Ansar regions.
He claimed that the raids were carried out following party activity against Israeli forces in Ali al-Taher Heights, which he described as located within the “security zone” in which his forces are active.
The Israeli army added that it “will not allow the party to harm the citizens of the State of Israel or its forces,” stressing that it will continue its operations, which it says are aimed at removing threats.
The Israeli statement comes after dawn witnessed a widespread escalation in the Nabatieh area, where Ali Al-Taher Heights and areas in Nabatieh Al-Fawqa and Ansar were subjected to a series of intense air strikes.
The National News Agency reported that the death toll from the Israeli raid that targeted a house on the outskirts of the town of Ansar at dawn had risen to 7 martyrs and 3 wounded, while the Nabatieh area witnessed a displacement movement in light of the intensity of the attacks.
The escalation mainly occurred during the dawn hours of Ali Al-Taher Heights, coinciding with artillery shelling, machine-gun sweeping operations, and intense Israeli aircraft overflights.
Ali Al-Taher Heights constitutes one of the most prominent strategic points in the vicinity of Nabatieh, due to its high location and its supervision over large areas of the city and the surrounding villages and roads, which over the past months has made it an essential focus in military operations and confrontations in southern Lebanon.
The region had witnessed, during previous stages, confrontations, attempts to advance, and mutual targeting operations, while the Israeli army had previously announced the imposition of its control over the highland, while the party at the time denied the validity of the Israeli declaration.
The new Israeli reference to “activity against his forces” in Ali Al-Taher is gaining field importance, as Israel directly links what it says happened in the highlands to the wave of raids that targeted Nabatieh and Ansar, at a time when the statement did not provide additional details about the nature of the activity it spoke about or the size of the losses resulting from it.
This comes as part of a broader escalation that the south witnessed during the past hours, which included raids, artillery shelling, and field operations in a number of towns and regions, while the situation in the vicinity of Nabatieh and Ali Al-Taher remains under surveillance as Israeli air activity continues.
