Israeli Drone Strikes Kill Four, Injure Others in Southern Lebanon

Last week’s rocket fire toward Israel continues to be used as an excuse for escalating Israeli drone strikes against southern Lebanon. Those rockets didn’t hit anything or do any damage to anyone, but the Israeli drones are killing several people, with four more slain overnight.

The first strike in the evening hit Maaroub, killing a Hezbollah figure named Hassan Sabra. Sabra was identified as a commander in Hezbollah’s Radwan Force, who had previously survived the pager attack Israel launched against Hezbollah members in September.

Thursday morning, a second drone hit a car in Yohmor, killing three people within. Israeli artillery shelling in the area have also been reported to be ongoing at the time of the drone strike. The victims have not been identified.

Israel, however, quickly labeled them “Hezbollah operatives transporting weapons.” They offered no evidence that this was the case, and indeed have often claimed to hit weapons transports when they hit plainly civilian targets.

Other people were reportedly wounded in those strikes, but exact figures are not certain. Another Israeli drone strike against the border village of Houla was also reported early on Thursday, wounding one civilian.

Israel’s official statements claimed the strikes targeted Hezbollah and were intended to defense northern Israel, though it doesn’t not appear Hezbollah has carried out a single attack on Israeli territory since the ceasefire began in November. Though Israel blamed Hezbollah for last week’s rocket fire.

Hezbollah maintains they were not involved, and those rockets were fired from primitive launchers that the Lebanese Army found and destroyed afterward. Hezbollah has much more advanced equipment, which lends credence to the idea that this attack, which again did no damage, and half of which didn’t even reach the Israeli border less than a mile away from the launch, wasn’t by a group as advanced and well-armed as Hezbollah generally is.

So far, no group has claimed credit. This may well be because the attack was very unsuccessful, and given that it also threatened an already struggling ceasefire, it could lead to a backlash from locals as well as Lebanese officials.