Israel carrying out ‘offensive action’ in south Lebanon, claims half of Hezbollah’s commanders ‘eliminated’

Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Wednesday (Apr 24) that the forces are carrying out "offensive action" across southern Lebanon. In a video statement, Gallant said, "Many forces are deployed on the border and IDF (army) forces are carrying out offensive action currently throughout southern Lebanon."

The defence minister also claimed that "half of Hezbollah's commanders in southern Lebanon have been eliminated" in months of violence and further said the "other half are in hiding and abandoning the field to IDF operations".

He didn't reveal exact numbers and also didn't specify whether or not ground troops had crossed the border.

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Separately, Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said in a post on social media platform X that 40 Hezbollah "terrorist" targets were struck, including storage facilities, weaponry and additional terror infrastructures used by the militant group in the region. As per reports, the targets linked to Hezbollah fighters around Ayta ash Shab.

The army distributed a video which showed various explosions said to be part of that attack. WION can not independently verify the details of the video.

Meanwhile, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said Israel had carried out more than 13 strikes near Aita al-Shaab and surrounding villages.

"Israeli warplanes carried out ... more than 13 airstrikes targeting the outskirts of the towns of Aita al-Shaab, Ramya, Jabal Balat and Khallet Warda," it said.

Lebanon's Hezbollah earlier in the day said that it fired dozens of rockets at an Israeli border town and sources in Lebanon reported heavy Israeli airstrikes on a Lebanese town just across the frontier.

The group had already fired rockets at northern Israel late on Tuesday "in response" to the civilian deaths.

This comes amid an escalating situation in the region amid an increase in cross-border strikes in recent days. The strikes were triggered since Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel which led to war in Gaza.

At least 380 people have been killed in Lebanon since October 7, mostly Hezbollah fighters but also 72 civilians, according to a tally by news agency AFP. On the other hand, Israel claims that 11 soldiers and eight civilians have been killed on its side of the border.

Disclaimer: WION takes utmost care to accurately and responsibly report ongoing developments on the Israel-Palestine conflict after the Hamas attacks. However, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos.

(With inputs from agencies)