Israeli naval commandos, transported by speedboats, captured a man identified by Israel as a senior Hezbollah operative during a sea-and-land operation on Friday, marking the deepest known incursion by Israeli forces into Lebanese territory during the ongoing conflict.
An Israeli military official, who spoke anonymously in accordance with military protocol, stated that the forces returned the individual to Israel for interrogation. The operation was carried out by Shayetet 13, an elite Israeli naval commando unit comparable to the U.S. Navy SEALs.
Most of Israel's military campaign has focused on aerial bombardments of southern and eastern Lebanon, as well as areas just south of Beirut, which are strongholds of support for Iran-backed Hezbollah. To date, Israeli ground troops have mainly operated in the southern regions.
The commandos landed early Friday along the Mediterranean coast in Batroun, approximately 20 miles north of the capital, Beirut, according to Lebanon’s state-run news agency. They abducted the man, identified by Lebanese officials as a ship captain named Imad Ahmaz, from a nearby residential building before departing via speedboats. The agency reported that Lebanese media circulated CCTV footage on Saturday showing an individual being led away by over a dozen armed men.
Hussen Dilbani and his wife, Rania, who lived next door, said they decided to leave their apartment after the raid, having already been displaced twice before from southern Lebanon and then Beirut. They stated they were unaware if their neighbor was a member of Hezbollah.
“I didn’t see their faces, just shadows and voices. They said they were from state security,” recalled Mr. Dilbani, recounting how the Israeli commandos claimed to be Lebanese security forces as they broke down his neighbor’s door around 2:30 a.m. on Friday. “I thought they were here to arrest someone involved in something.”
Other residents in the building reported that the Israeli commandos also identified themselves as Lebanese security officers and ordered them to remain inside their homes. Hezbollah labeled the incident a “Zionist aggression in the Batroun area,” but did not confirm that one of its members had been captured.
Batroun, a predominantly Christian city, is not a support base for Hezbollah, but it has seen an influx of residents from nearby Beirut who have fled Israel’s bombing campaign in recent weeks.
Israel launched an intensified military campaign against Hezbollah in September, nearly a year after the group began firing rockets into Israel in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza. This Israeli offensive has resulted in the displacement of over a fifth of Lebanon’s population.
In previous conflicts, the Israeli military conducted commando operations deep inside Lebanon to kidnap or kill members of Hezbollah or Palestinian factions.
Ali Hamieh, Lebanon’s Minister of Public Works and Transport, stated in an interview that the abducted man was a civilian ship captain studying at a maritime institute in Batroun, where he had rented a nearby chalet.
Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, announced that he had ordered the government to file a complaint with the U.N. Security Council regarding the abduction.
أظهر مقطع مصور مشاهد للحظة إختطاف قبطان بحري لبناني في البترون.
— Al Jadeed News (@ALJADEEDNEWS) November 2, 2024
في السياق قالت صحيفة "معاريف" نقلا عن جيش العدو أن قوات إسرائيلية اعتقلت مسؤولا بحزب الله في عمق لبنان pic.twitter.com/oiHYkuakH6
No comments:
Post a Comment