Multiple Israeli strikes and raids targeted southern Lebanon today, killing at least four people. Among those slain were multiple civilians, including a three-year-old child. Israeli troops also carried out a ground raid capturing an official within Jamaa al-Islamiya.
The main drone strike targeted a car in Yanouh, killing three people including the aforementioned child. The IDF claiming the strike killed a Hezbollah artillery commander, though offered no evidence to that effect. They said they were “aware” of the claims of civilians killed, and regretted if that was the case.
The fourth person killed by the IDF was killed by ground troops in Ayta al-Shaab, shot with machine gun fire. Similarly the IDF declared the slain in this case a “Hezbollah operative” who was in some way “gathering intelligence.”
Southern Lebanon’s Nabatieh Governorate during the ceasefire ©MSF
In addition to these strikes, the IDF reportedly dropped sound bombs at two people in the Ayta al-Shaab cemetery, though without injuring them. It is entirely unclear why they were targeted and unclear if this was related to the shooting in that village.
Israeli troops also stormed the village of Hebbarieh overnight, kidnapping Atwi Atwi, an official with Jamaa Islamiya, from his home. The group condemned the kidnapping as a violation of Lebanese sovereignty.
Jamaa Islamiya is a Sunni political party in Lebanon, which has only a single MP in parliament and a small armed faction which is rarely involved in any of the goings on along the Israeli border, though they are intermittently targeted by Israel.
Atwi Atwi was reportedly taken by Israel to an “undisclosed location,” and it remains unclear what, if anything, they intend to charge him with.
