Militia confirms strike
Israel kills Hezbollah commander in southern Lebanon
February 27, 2024, 5:28 a.m
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A Hezbollah commander is killed in a retaliatory attack by the Israeli army in southern Lebanon. He was hit by a guided missile from a fighter jet while he was driving in his car. For the first time, Israeli attacks are expanding to the northeast.
The Israeli military says it has killed a senior officer in the Shiite Hezbollah militia in an airstrike in southern Lebanon. Brigade commander Hussein Salami was deliberately killed on Monday because he was commanding rocket attacks on the northern Israeli town of Kiriat Shmona and a local Israeli military command, the Israeli army said. Salami was driving in the village of Madschadel, 20 kilometers east of Tyre, when the guided missile dropped by an Israeli fighter jet hit him. Hezbollah confirmed Salami’s death in an Israeli attack, but did not provide any information about his rank.
Since the Gaza war broke out on October 7, the pro-Iranian Hezbollah has attacked northern Israel, often several times a day, with artillery and anti-tank missiles. Israel responds with air and artillery strikes on Hezbollah bases, observation posts and launch sites in southern Lebanon. Furthermore, the Israeli Air Force repeatedly attacks Hezbollah fighters and commanders with targeted air strikes. On Monday, the Shiite militia shot down an Israeli drone over southern Lebanon.
60 rockets to the Golan Heights
In response, the Israeli Air Force bombed a building near the town of Baalbek in northeast Lebanon. According to Lebanese security circles, two people were killed, presumably Hezbollah fighters. Later that afternoon, Hezbollah fired around 60 rockets into the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights. There were initially no reports of victims. Israel responded with air strikes on the launch sites, the military said in the evening.
There have been almost daily battles between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, which is allied with the radical Islamic Hamas, since Hamas attacked Israel. Normally these are limited to the border region between Lebanon and Israel. Monday’s attacks on targets in the northeast are the first to extend beyond the border region.