(JNS) — An Israeli strike in Southern Lebanon on Sunday night killed a field commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force, the Israel Defense Forces confirmed on Monday morning.
The attack was carried out near the village of As-Sultaniya, according to the IDF, which named the commander as Ali Ahmed Hassin, Radwan commander of the Hajir region.
According to the IDF, he “was a senior operative in the terrorist organization and held a rank equivalent to that of brigade commander. In his role, he was responsible for planning and carrying out terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians in northern Israel.”
The army added, “Since the beginning of the war, Hassin carried out numerous launches towards Israeli territory.”
Hezbollah confirmed Hassin’s death, saying that he was from Beirut.
Two other Hezbollah terrorists under Hassin’s command were killed in the strike, according to the military.
Hassin is the second high-ranking Hezbollah official killed in an Israeli strike in the Hijar region in recent months. In February, the IDF announced the death of Hassan Hossein Salami, commander of the sector.
The IDF said on Sunday night that fighter jets had carried out strikes on Hezbollah positions in the Kfarkela area and attacked a rocket launcher in the area of Yaroun.
The deaths bring the total number of Hezbollah terrorists killed since the terrorist group joined the war in support of Hamas on Oct. 8 to 274, according to Hezbollah’s tally.
Also on Sunday, the IDF Aerial Defense Array intercepted a rocket from Lebanon fired at the Upper Galilee city of Safed. The IDF also carried out retaliatory strikes at the source of several launches from Lebanon at the Har Dov area in northern Israel, which caused no injuries or damage.
On Sunday morning, Hezbollah took responsibility for a 30-rocket barrage on the Golan Heights that caused no injuries or damage, according to Ynet.
The barrage was believed to be a response to Saturday’s Israeli Air Force strikes on Hezbollah targets near Baalbek in northern Lebanon, some 60 miles from the border.
That strike came after the terrorist group shot down an IDF drone over Lebanon with a surface-to-air missile.
“One of our UAVs was downed in Lebanon, and our forces responded deep in Lebanon, in the Bekaa Valley, in Baalbek,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed in a statement on Sunday marking six months since Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks.
Additional Hezbollah terror sites were targeted on Saturday night in Ayta ash Shab and Odaisseh in Southern Lebanon, the IDF announced.
Hezbollah attacked Israel in support of Hamas on Oct. 8 following the Gaza terrorists’ Oct. 7 onslaught on southern Israel, and has been launching near-daily cross-border attacks on northern Israel, while the Jewish state has responded with aerial attacks and artillery fire.
The Radwan fighters positioned in the border region are tasked with infiltrating Israel, to conduct attacks similar to those carried out by Hamas on Oct. 7.
Due to Hezbollah’s ongoing rocket and missile attacks and fears of an Oct. 7-style invasion of northern Israel, tens of thousands of residents of Israeli border-area communities have been evacuated.
Israel has said that while a diplomatic solution to distance Hezbollah forces from the border is preferable, a military operation is on the table to enable the safe return of the internally displaced residents.
On Monday morning, a large-scale Israeli military exercise was taking place in the northern coastal and Western Galilee regions, involving ground, air and sea forces.
“The exercise was conducted as part of the IDF’s readiness for combat in the various sectors. There is no fear of a security incident,” the army and police said in a joint statement.
