Iran’s IRGC among several killed in Lebanon strikes: Israel

JERUSALEM: The Israeli army says an operative with the external arm of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is among several people killed in strikes it has carried out across Lebanon in another breach of its ceasefire with Hezbollah.

Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) said the drone strike on Thursday hit a vehicle on the Hosh al-Sayyed Ali road in the Hermel district, killing two people.

The Israeli army said Hussein Mahmoud Marshad al-Jawhari, an alleged member of the IRGC’s Quds Force, was killed in the Ansariyah area of southern Lebanon after his vehicle was struck.

It accused him of carrying out “Iran-directed terror activities against Israel and its security forces from Syria and Lebanon”.

The IRGC did not immediately respond to the allegation.

The NNA reported another Israeli drone strike early on Thursday afternoon, saying a pickup truck was hit at the entrance to the town of Safad al-Batikh in southern Lebanon’s Bint Jbeil district.

In a short, separate statement, the Israeli army said it killed a member of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

A ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese group went into effect in November 2024 after more than a year of cross-border attacks during Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza. However, Israel has been staging attacks on Lebanon nearly every day since.

The attacks on Thursday came shortly after a passer-by was injured in an Israeli drone strike targeting a car in the town of Jennata in the Tyre district of southern Lebanon late on Wednesday.

Israel has killed more than 300 people in Lebanon since last year’s ceasefire, including about 127 civilians, according to the United Nations. From January to late November, Israeli forces carried out nearly 1,600 strikes across Lebanon, according to data compiled by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.

Israel justifies its near-daily air raids by saying it is targeting Hezbollah’s fighters and infrastructure as it calls for the group’s full disarmament under the ceasefire.

At least three people have been killed in an Israeli attack near the southern Lebanese city of Sidon, the country’s National News Agency (NNA) is reporting, in the latest Israeli breach of a ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah.

Lebanon’s Ministry of Health said on Monday that the three people were killed in an Israeli air strike on a vehicle on Quneitra Road in the southern Sidon district, according to NNA.

The Israeli military said in a statement that it had targeted Hezbollah members in the Sidon area, without providing further details.

The deadly strikes come a day after another Israeli attack on southern Lebanon on Sunday killed one person and wounded two others. The Israeli army said it killed a Hezbollah member in that attack.

Israel has repeatedly violated the November 2024 ceasefire agreement with the Lebanese group, carrying out near-daily attacks across Lebanon, particularly in the south that have drawn widespread condemnation.

Between January and late November, Israeli forces carried out nearly 1,600 strikes across Lebanon, according to data compiled by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED).

Late last month, the United Nations said at least 127 civilians had been killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon since the ceasefire took effect, prompting a call from the United Nations human rights office for a “prompt and impartial” investigation.

Israel’s attacks have continued despite the November 2024 ceasefire agreement, which includes provisions for Hezbollah’s disarmament in parts of southern Lebanon and the withdrawal of Israeli forces. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)