JNS
The target: An Islamist gunman's vehicle in the Alma al-Shaab area of Southern Lebanon.
The Israel Defense Forces attacked a Hezbollah terrorist operative in the southwestern Lebanon's Tyre District on Thursday.
An Israeli Air Force craft "recently struck a terrorist of the Hezbollah terrorist organization who was operating in the Alma al-Shaab area in Southern Lebanon," the IDF confirmed in a Hebrew-language X post.
Earlier on Thursday afternoon, Lebanon's Al-Jadeed channel reported that a drone targeted a vehicle in Alma al-Shaab. According to the report, at least one person was wounded in the strike.
A truce brokered by the United States and France between Lebanon and Israel has been in place since Nov. 27, ending more than a year of cross-border fighting linked to the war in Gaza. Hezbollah has agreed under the truce to move north of the Litani River, with the Lebanese Armed Forces deploying to the south. Neither action has taken place in full.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar on Tuesday reiterated Jerusalem's demand that the Lebanese government act against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and Hamas terrorist organizations within its borders.
He spoke shortly after the IDF struck a Hezbollah target in Beirut's Dahieh area, reportedly disrupting a planned terrorist attack that could have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Israeli civilians.
"Very early this morning, IDF fighter jets struck a Hezbollah terrorist in Beirut," Sa'ar stated in his briefing for the foreign press. "He had recently been directing Hamas terrorists and assisting them in an attempt to carry out a major imminent attack against Israeli civilians. The terrorist posed a real and immediate threat, what we call a ticking bomb."
According to Sa'ar, there is "cooperation between Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas on the soil of Lebanon" to initiate terrorist attacks against Israelis.
“Therefore, we had to eliminate the threat. Israel will continue to remove any threat to our citizens,” the Jewish state’s top diplomat told reporters.
“We expect Lebanon to take action to uproot terrorist organizations acting within its borders against Israel,” Sa’ar added, reiterating Israel’s repeated demand that Beirut uphold United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 that ended the 2006 Second Lebanon War, as well as the most recent ceasefire understandings.
