Israeli army kills Hezbollah commander in Lebanon

Jerusalem/Beirut, May 22 (IANS) The Israeli military have said it launched a drone strike in southern Lebanon, killing a commander in Hezbollah's elite Radwan force.

The military issued a statement on Wednesday, saying that the strike was carried out in the Yater area, without specifying the commander's name.

Meanwhile, Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA), citing Khalil Kourani, head of Yater Municipality, said the dead was a citizen identified as Ali Hassan Abdel Latif Sweidan, who was targetted when he was clearing the rubble from his home using his excavator.

Earlier in the day, the Israeli military claimed to have killed Hussein Nazih Barji, a Hezbollah operative involved in the group's weapons development program, during an Israeli drone strike in the Tyre area in southern Lebanon, Xinhua news agency reported.

The NNA confirmed the attack, but did not say if the dead was a member of Hezbollah.

The incidents were the latest in a series of Israeli attacks despite a ceasefire reached in November 2024 that ended 14 months of cross-border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

Israel's military said it carried out a drone strike in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, killing a Hezbollah operative involved in the group's weapons development programme.

The man, identified as Hussein Nazih Barji, was struck while travelling in a vehicle in the Tyre area, according to a military statement accompanied by surveillance footage.

Barji was described as "a central figure" in a directorate of Hezbollah that oversees the development, manufacture, and maintenance of weapons, including precision missiles, and works to expand the group's supply capabilities, Xinhua news agency reported.

The military said Barji was "a veteran engineer responsible for building infrastructure for the production of precision surface-to-surface missiles".

His killing was intended to "disrupt Hezbollah's recovery efforts," it added.

Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee said on social media platform X that "Barji's activities represented a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon. The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) will continue to act to eliminate any threat to the State of Israel."

The Lebanese Health Ministry confirmed the attack, saying that a "hostile" drone targetted a car on the Housh-Ain Baal road in the Tyre district, killing one person from the town of Ramadiyah.

Meanwhile, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported another death from an Israeli drone strike on Wednesday on the village of Yater.

On Monday, a Hezbollah member was killed and three civilians injured in a spate of Israeli air and ground strikes targetting various areas in southern Lebanon.

The official National News Agency (NNA) reported that an Israeli airstrike had targetted the outskirts of the village of Houla. A Lebanese security source confirmed that a Hezbollah member, named Issa Qutaish and originally from Houla, was killed in the strike.

The NNA had said that in two additional incidents, two people were injured when an Israeli drone hit a motorcycle in the Wadi Sarbin area, while another individual was wounded in the shoulder as Israeli forces opened fire on him at the entrance of Kafr Kila village.

The incidents were the latest in a series of Israeli attacks despite a ceasefire reached in November 2024 that ended 14 months of cross-border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

--IANS

int/khz