Israel has carried out a targeted air strike on a southern suburb of Beirut, killing a senior Hezbollah commander, according to local media reports on Thursday, in a marked escalation that came without any advance warning to the Lebanese capital’s civilian population.
The Israeli Air Force struck the southern outskirts of Beirut, eliminating Malek Ballut, a commander of the Radwan special forces unit affiliated with the Lebanese militant movement Hezbollah.
The Israeli military did not issue any warning to the residents of Beirut ahead of the airstrike.
Earlier, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that “terrorists under Radwan’s command are responsible for shelling Israeli communities and for attacks against Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) soldiers.”
On May 6, the IDF Chief of the General Staff, Eyal Zamir, announced that since the start of Operation Lion’s Roar on February 28, Israeli forces had eliminated more than two thousand Hezbollah members. He added that the IDF would not withdraw from southern Lebanon until security was ensured and a long-term solution had been found for the towns and cities in northern Israel.
Tensions between Lebanon and Israel remain extremely high, despite ongoing attempts to broker a ceasefire.
