Photo: Jalaa Marey Agence France-Presse The official Lebanese agency ANI reported 13 Israeli strikes near Aita el-Chaab. Seen here is an Israeli strike on the Lebanese village of Odaisseh on Monday.
France Media Agency in Jerusalem
Published at 10:24 a.m.
- Middle East
The Israeli army announced Wednesday that it was taking “offensive action” in southern Lebanon, where it said its air force and artillery struck 40 Lebanese Hezbollah targets and killed half of its commanders in this sector.
“Troops are deployed in large numbers on the border and the armed forces are currently carrying out offensive actions throughout southern Lebanon,” indicated the Israeli minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant, in a press release.
“Half of the Hezbollah commanders in southern Lebanon have been eliminated, the other half is hiding and leaving the field open to Israeli military operations.
He n It was not immediately clear whether Israeli ground troops had entered Lebanese territory.
The Lebanese pro-Iranian movement did not immediately react to Israeli declarations.
Intensification
Since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas on October 7, Hezbollah carries out almost daily attacks against Israel to support the Palestinian Islamist movement, its ally.
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The Israeli army responded by bombarding Lebanese territory deeper and deeper and carrying out targeted attacks against Hezbollah officials.
“A short time ago , Israeli warplanes and artillery struck around 40 Hezbollah terrorist targets” around Aita al-Shaab in southern Lebanon, including weapons storage sites, the army said earlier in a statement.
Hezbollah “has established dozens of terrorist assets and infrastructure in the region” to attack Israel, she added .
The official Lebanese agency ANI reported 13 Israeli strikes near Aïta el-Chaab.
“Israeli military aircraft carried out more than 13 airstrikes targeting the outskirts of the towns of Aita al-Shaab, Ramya, Jabal Balat and Khallet Warda,” the agency said.
Hezbollah announced on Tuesday that it had fired dozens of rockets into northern Israel, in retaliation for the deaths of two civilians in southern Lebanon in a strike blamed on Israel.
This violence between Hezbollah and Israel has left 380 dead on the Lebanese side since October 7, mostly fighters from the Lebanese movement, as well as 72 civilians, according to an AFP count.
In northern Israel, eleven soldiers and eight civilians were killed according to the army.