Rocket hits car
Key Hezbollah member killed in Lebanon
January 9, 2024, 6:21 p.m
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One day after the fatal assassination attempt on a Hezbollah commander, Israel apparently managed another blow against the Shiite militia. Ali Hussein Barji is killed in a rocket attack on his car. The man is said to have been responsible for dozens of drone attacks on Israel.
Another key member of the Shiite militia Hezbollah has been killed in a suspected Israeli attack in southern Lebanon. According to an Israeli media report, it is Ali Hussein Barji, who has been responsible for dozens of drone attacks on northern Israel since the Islamist Hamas attack on Israel on October 7th. A Hezbollah spokesman confirmed Barji’s death, but emphasized that he was not a commander of the Shiite militia. The Israeli army has not yet commented on the attack.
Barji was in a car on the way to the funeral of Hezbollah commander Wissam al-Tauil, who was killed in an Israeli attack the day before, in the town of Kherbet Selem in southern Lebanon when a rocket hit the vehicle, eyewitnesses said. Just hours earlier, at least three other members of the Shiite militia were killed when their car was fired upon by an Israeli drone, according to Hezbollah and Lebanese security sources.
Hezbollah said the group used drones to attack a military base in Safed, northern Israel, in response to the killing of its members. Israeli media showed a video of the incident and wrote that the drone explosion only caused material damage.
The Shiite militia had previously claimed attacks on Israeli military posts in the border area. “Direct hits” were achieved. The Israeli army said there had been several rocket attacks from Lebanon on the Israeli border area. By the afternoon there had been at least eleven air alerts in the north of the country. According to information from Lebanese security circles, Israeli troops responded by shelling several towns in southern Lebanon.
Since the beginning of the Gaza war on October 7th, there have been repeated confrontations between the Israeli army and the Hezbollah militia on the border between Israel and Lebanon. There were already deaths on both sides. It is the worst escalation since the second Lebanon war in 2006.