Top Hezbollah commander killed in Israel drone strike in southern Lebanon

A senior Hezbollah Commander was assassinated in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, according to the Israeli army, Anadolu Agency reports.

A military statement said Ismail Yusuf Baz, the Commander of Hezbollah’s coastal region, was killed in a drone attack in Ain Baal town in the province of Tyre.

Ismail Yusuf Baz, Commander of Hezbollah’s coastal region

Baz was ”a senior and veteran official in the military wing of Hezbollah,” the statement said.

The Israeli army said Baz was responsible for advancing and planning rocket and anti-tank missile launches toward Israel from southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah, for its part, confirmed Baz’s death, without providing any further details.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency earlier reported fatalities in an Israeli airstrike on two vehicles in the town of Shihabiya in southern Lebanon, without providing details.

Tuesday’s attack came amid an exchange of cross-border fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah since last October following a deadly Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip, which killed more than 33,800 people following a Hamas attack.

Last Sunday Israeli warplanes targeted a building in the town of Nabi Shith in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon after a violent night of Israeli attacks in the region, Anadolu Agency reports.

The Lebanese National News Agency reported that “an enemy airstrike targeted a building in the town of Nabi Shith in the Bekaa Valley.”

No casualties were reported, according to the agency.

Earlier Sunday, Israeli warplanes launched a series of violent raids targeting the vicinity of Jabal Safi in southern Lebanon.

The raiding warplane also dropped a number of missiles, shattering windowpanes in dozens of homes and shops in the town of Jebaa, according to the same source.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee said in a statement on X: “The Israeli Air Force fighter jets targeted a significant site for manufacturing combat equipment belonging to the terrorist Hezbollah organization, in the area of ​​Nabi Sheet in Lebanese territory.”

MEM