[Regnum] The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) struck four border crossings on the Syrian-Lebanese border that were used by Hezbollah to smuggle weapons, the IDF press service reported.
During the operation, a key figure in the smuggling networks, Muhammad Awash, who also controlled arms supply routes from Iraq to Syria and Lebanon, was eliminated.
"Awash played a key role in promoting arms smuggling for Hezbollah, using a front company that ordered and transferred prohibited goods from countries such as Iraq, Syria, and the Persian Gulf," the press service noted on social media.
The IDF Spokesperson's Office emphasized that the army continues to monitor Hezbollah's attempts to build up its military potential and will prevent any violations of the agreements between Israel and Lebanon.
| An Nahar expands: |
...home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade....border on Wednesday that were allegedly used by Hezbollah to smuggle weapons, after earlier launching fresh strikes in south Lebanon.
"A short while ago, the (Israeli military) struck four border crossings on the Syria-Lebanon border used by Hezbollah to smuggle weapons in the area of Hermel," the Israeli military said in a statement, without providing further details.
It came after Israel launched new strikes on what it said were Hezbollah targets in south Lebanon after raids earlier Wednesday killed two people, the latest violence despite a year-old ceasefire with the group.
The state-run National News Agency said Israeli warplanes launched raids on buildings in several south Lebanon towns including Qennarit and Kfour, after the Israeli army issued evacuation warnings to residents identifying sites it intended to strike there.
An AFP photographer was slightly maimed along with two other journalists who were working near the site of a heavy strike in Qennarit.
According to Lebanon's health ministry, 19 people were maimed in the strike in Qennarit, five of whom were taken to hospital.
Earlier Wednesday, the health ministry said an Israeli strike on a vehicle in the town of Zahrani, in the Sidon district, killed one person.
An AFP correspondent saw a charred car on a main road with debris strewn across the area and emergency workers in attendance.
Later, the ministry said another strike targeting a vehicle in the town of Bazouriyeh in the Tyre district killed one person.
Israel said it struck Hezbollah operatives in both areas.
A Lebanese Army statement decried the Israeli targeting of "civilian buildings and homes" in a "blatant violation of Lebanon's illusory sovereignty" and the ceasefire deal.
It also said such attacks "hinder the army's efforts" to complete the disarmament plan.
This month, the army said it had completed the first phase of its plan to disarm Hezbollah, covering the area south of the Litani river, around 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border.
Most of Wednesday's strikes were north of the river.
More than 350 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon since the ceasefire, according to an AFP tally of health ministry reports.
The November 2024 truce sought to end more than a year of hostilities, but Israel accuses Hezbollah of rearming, while the bad boy group has rejected calls to surrender its weapons.
| The Times of Israel names names: |
“The infrastructures that were struck were located in the heart of a civilian population. This is another example of the cynical use by the Hezbollah terror organization of Lebanese civilians as human shields and of the organization’s activity from within civilian assets,” the army said.
The state-run National News Agency said Israeli warplanes launched raids on buildings in several southern Lebanese towns, including Qennarit and Kfour, after the evacuation warnings.
Additionally, a Hezbollah operative who, according to the IDF, was responsible for preventing the Lebanese army from dismantling a weapons cache in southern Lebanon last month, was killed in an Israeli airstrike earlier on Wednesday, the military said. Abu Ali Salameh, who the IDF said served as a Hezbollah “liaison officer” in the village of Yanouh, in the Tyre area, was targeted while driving on a road near the coastal Lebanese city.
“As part of his role, the terrorist managed Hezbollah’s activities in the village of Yanouh, to enable Hezbollah to operate within the civilian area and in private properties in the village, and to embed terror infrastructure in the heart of the population through the deliberate and cynical exploitation of residents to advance Hezbollah’s terror objectives,” the military said.
According to the IDF, on December 13, Israel sent a request to the Lebanese army, via the US-led ceasefire oversight mechanism, to take action against a Hezbollah weapons depot in Yanouh.
“Salameh received the report from the Lebanese Armed Forces and passed it on to other Hezbollah elements. Upon the arrival of the Lebanese Armed Forces, Hezbollah terrorists prevented them from dismantling the infrastructure by creating a gathering that enabled Hezbollah to move the weapons out of the property,” the military claimed.
At the time, the IDF had published an evacuation warning ahead of a planned strike on the site, before postponing it after the Lebanese army arrived in an attempt to dismantle it. The IDF said that Salameh coordinated with the Lebanese army to document the site without weapons, “thereby claiming that the site was empty.”
“During the Lebanese Armed Forces’ operation, several suspicious boxes were removed from the compound through the rear door of the property,” the IDF said.
Separately, the IDF said that a strike it carried out earlier near Sidon killed a “key” Hezbollah weapons smuggler. Mohammad Awatsheh was involved in managing weapon transfers to Hezbollah, “including through a front company that transported prohibited goods from various countries, including Iraq, Syria, and Gulf states,” the military said. Additionally, the military said Awatsheh was the handler for “numerous smugglers responsible for transferring weapons from Iraq to Syria and Lebanon.”
An AFP correspondent saw a charred car on a main road in the town of Zahrani, in the Sidon district, with debris strewn across the area and emergency workers in attendance.