A senior Hezbollah terrorist was reportedly killed Thursday afternoon in a drone strike that took place in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh.
“An Israeli drone carried out an air attack at approximately 4:15 pm on a four-wheel-drive vehicle at the eastern entrance to the city of Nabatieh, causing it to catch fire, Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported.
“A vehicle burned at the Kafr Rumman roundabout in Nabatieh district in southern Lebanon,” the Quds News network reported.
تغطية صحفية: احتراق مركبة على دوار كفر رمان قضاء النبطية في جنوب لبنان؛ جراء قصف طائرة مسيّرة للاحتلال. pic.twitter.com/kb2Mq95dcb
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) February 8, 2024
Iranian-backed Hezbollah regional commander Abbas al-Debs was allegedly killed in the targeted assassination. A missile fired by a drone hit on a vehicle that was carrying three people, according to Saudia Arabia’s Al Arabiya television network and the Al-Hadath news outlet.
Al-Debs was linked the Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and was reportedly helping Iran set up air defenses in Syria.
Preliminary information indicated there were two Hezbollah operatives in the car at the time of the attack, which took place on a main street in the city.
3 IDF Soldiers Wounded in Hezbollah Anti-Tank Missile Attack from Lebanon
Israel’s Galei Tzahal Army Radio reported that the IDF “eliminated a Hezbollah commander responsible for firing rockets at Kiryat Shmona.” The report added that the strike was carried out in response to an anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) attack on Israel by Hezbollah earlier in the day that wounded three IDF soldiers, including one with serious injuries.
Earlier in the day, IDF fighter jets struck a series of Hezbollah terror targets, including weapons inside a truck, terrorist infrastructure, and a military compound in the areas of Khiam and Kfarhamam in southern Lebanon, the IDF Spokesperson said.
Since the October 7 invasion of Israel by Hezbollah’s fellow Iranian proxy in Gaza, the Hamas terrorist organization, 227 people have been killed in Lebanon, including 166 Hezbollah fighters and 27 civilians.
There have been daily rocket and anti-tank guided missile attacks fired at Israel from Lebanon by Hezbollah since October 8 and Israel Defense Forces have responded to each attack with artillery fire and air strikes targeting Hezbollah infrastructure.
On October 7, Hamas-led terrorists tortured and slaughtered some 1,200 people, and abducted 253 others, dragging them into Gaza captivity. Israel has managed to free 110 of those hostages so far, but following credible intelligence reports, the Jerusalem government has notified the families of 31 others that their loved ones are no longer living.
Nearly 100,000 Israelis living along the northern border with Lebanon evacuated their homes shortly after the October 7 at the urging of the Israel Defense Forces, as did a similar number of Israelis who fled the south. All have become internal refugees, unable to return home due to the ongoing war.
Tens of thousands of Lebanese citizens have likewise left their homes in southern Lebanon to flee the fighting — and the approaching full-scale war between Israel and Hezbollah that seems increasingly likely.
