The Israeli military on Thursday (Feb 15) claimed that it had killed a Hezbollah commander, his deputy and another fighter in an air strike in Lebanese territory. In a statement, the military said that Ali al-Debs and the other two fighters were killed Wednesday night.
As per the Israeli military, the fighters allegedly died “in a precise air strike carried out by an IDF (Israeli army) aircraft on a Hezbollah military structure in Nabatiyeh”.
In response to the Israeli strikes, Hezbollah said it had fired dozens of rockets into northern Israel on Thursday.
“In a first response to the massacres in Nabatiyeh and Sawaneh, Islamic resistance fighters fired dozens of Katyusha-type rockets at Kiryat Shmona,” an Israeli town near the Lebanese border, Hezbollah said in a statement.
A clash between Israel and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah could cause cross-border escalation which has become a matter of concern for global leaders. Both sides have been exchanging near-daily fire across the border since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on October 7.
In a report by the news agency AFP, a security source in Lebanon, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that the strike had killed seven civilians from the same family along with Debs and two other Hezbollah members.
As per the report, the civilian death toll stood at 10 in Israeli strikes on Wednesday, which was the highest such toll since the cross-border hostilities erupted.
‘Israel would face reprisal’
Meanwhile, senior Hezbollah official and member of parliament Hassan Fadlallah said on Thursday (Feb 15) that Israel would face reprisal after two sets of strikes on southern Lebanon.
On being asked about the reaction to the strikes, Fadlallah told Reuters: “The enemy (Israel) will pay the price for these crimes.”
Fadlallah said Hezbollah had a “legitimate right to defend its people and will not flinch in doing what is needed to protect it” and insisted that Israel halt its war on Gaza.
Meanwhile, Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati also instructed foreign minister Abdallah Bou Habib to register a new complaint at the United Nations Security Council over Wednesday’s strikes.