Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant spoke to the northern command, reporting that Israel was actively carrying out “offensive action” against targets across southern Lebanon.
Gallant also claimed that Israel had killed fully half of all Hezbollah commanders in the south. He bragged that the other half are now in hiding, though he later clarified to the press he was only referring to brigade-level commanders.
Even that claim is dubious, according to the Jerusalem Post, which says it isn’t clear how many brigade commanders there were in the first place, and that sources put the number around 15. Israeli reports put the number killed at six, well short of half.
Even then, sources doubt that killing six commanders will have much impact. Hezbollah has shown the ability to replace those killed readily, having a large number of battalion-level commanders to recruit from.
The Israeli army reported they struck 40 targets today, going after targets across the area, hitting the area of Ayta al-Shaab more than 10 times. Hezbollah responded by firing dozens of rockets against northern Israel.
Though Israel made much of the attacks in southern Lebanon as focused on terrorist infrastructure, a pair of missile strikes in Hanin apparently destroyed a civilian home, killing a woman named Maryam Qashaqash and her 11-year-old niece Sarah. Six other civilians were ultimately recovered from the rubble of the destroyed house.
Time and again, Israel has claimed airstrikes target Hezbollah sites, weapon storage or related activity, but which wound up hitting civilian homes. Well over a thousand homes have been damaged or outright destroyed in airstrikes.
