One child was killed and five injured in an Israeli strike targeting the Zira'a area near Tyre in southern Lebanon, as violence pitting Hezbollah against Israel intensified on Wednesday.
A series of raids also targeted neighborhoods in Nabatieh, as well as the villages of Zefta, Jbshit and Qalaouiyeh.
Earlier, the Israeli army had called on residents of several localities in the Nabatieh district to evacuate the area, warning of military operations against “Hezbollah installations.” These included the villages of Sojod, Kfar Joz, Nabatieh al-Tahta, Nabatieh al-Fawqa, Zefta, Jarjoua, Humin al-Tahta and Kfar Remen.
In addition, the area around Labbouneh and Naqoura was bombed by an Israeli warship.
In Sarafand, a child was pulled alive from under the rubble after Tuesday evening's strikes, which left 15 dead and 21 wounded.
Strikes were also carried out against the localities of Haret Saida, for the second time in 24 hours, Kfar Kila, Ramadiya, Srira and Shebaa, which has been targeted eight times since the morning.
The Israeli army also blew up houses in Wadi al-Assafir and Khiam, where close combat was still taking place between Hezbollah fighters and Israeli soldiers attempting to advance into the area.
For its part, Hezbollah announced that it had intercepted an Israeli drone, Hormuz 450, “with a surface-to-air missile” and launched a series of rockets against gatherings of Israeli soldiers in several sectors of the Galilee.
In the evening, it launched three drones against Tel Aviv, where the GPS system was reportedly momentarily disrupted.
Earlier, the Israeli army had announced that it had intercepted a drone launched from Lebanese territory in the direction of the western Galilee, and also reported “the explosion of a ballistic missile fired from Lebanon, which caused the sirens to be activated.”
It also said it had “eliminated the vice-commander of the elite unit of Hezbollah's al-Radwan force, Mustapha Ahmad Shehadeh, in Nabatieh.”
In a series of messages on X, the army said that Shehadeh “was in charge of the al-Radwan force's operations during the war in Syria between 2012 and 2017” and that he was also in charge of “combat plans in South Lebanon.”
On the other hand, it announced that “ten Israeli officers and soldiers have been wounded in battles in Lebanon over the past 24 hours.”
In addition, Israeli warplanes broke the sound barrier on several occasions over a number of Lebanese regions, including Nabatieh and Iqlim al-Tuffah.
In Aley
Earlier in the day, two Israeli strikes targeted two vans carrying missiles: one on the Qmatiyeh-Aley road and the other, earlier in the morning, on the Araya-Kahaleh road. The driver of the second van was killed.
These two raids caused widespread panic in the region, with residents stopping and searching passing vans. According to preliminary information that could not be confirmed by official sources, two vans loaded with missiles were stopped in the predominantly Druze city of Aley and prevented from entering the area.
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