Israeli Strikes in Lebanon Kill 3 Including Hezbollah Commander, Sources Say

 Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike on the southern Lebanese village of Majdel Zoun, on April 15, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. (AFP)
Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike on the southern Lebanese village of Majdel Zoun, on April 15, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. (AFP)
TT
20

Israeli Strikes in Lebanon Kill 3 Including Hezbollah Commander, Sources Say

 Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike on the southern Lebanese village of Majdel Zoun, on April 15, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. (AFP)
Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike on the southern Lebanese village of Majdel Zoun, on April 15, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. (AFP)

Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon on Tuesday killed three people including a Hezbollah field commander, Lebanese security sources said, an uptick in violence after at least a week of relative calm in more than half a year of hostilities.

The Israeli military said Ismail Baz, killed in a strike on a car near the southern town of Ain Ebel, was the commander of Hezbollah's coastal sector and was involved in planning rocket and anti-tank missile attacks on Israel.

Hezbollah issued a statement mourning Baz's death but did not elaborate on his role in the organization.

Separate Israeli strikes on two vehicles near the southern town of Chehabiyeh killed at least two Hezbollah members, a security source and a civil defense official said.

Hezbollah and Israel have traded fire in parallel to the Gaza war in the most serious hostilities since they fought a major war in 2006.

The fighting has claimed the lives of at least 370 Lebanese, including more than 240 Hezbollah fighters and 68 civilians, according to a Reuters toll and has fueled concern about the potential for further escalation between regional enemies.

Eighteen Israelis, including soldiers and civilians, have been killed.

Those concerns have mounted following Iran's unprecedented attack on Israel with hundreds of explosive drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles launched on Saturday night to which Israeli officials have vowed to respond.

Iran called the barrage retaliation for an Israeli strike that flattened a building in its embassy compound in Damascus on April 1 and killed two of its generals and several other officers.



Arab Parliament Speaker Condemns Israeli Escalation in Gaza, Calls for Immediate Action

Arab Parliament Speaker Condemns Israeli Escalation in Gaza, Calls for Immediate Action
TT
20

Arab Parliament Speaker Condemns Israeli Escalation in Gaza, Calls for Immediate Action

Arab Parliament Speaker Condemns Israeli Escalation in Gaza, Calls for Immediate Action

Arab Parliament Speaker Mohammed Al Yamahi strongly condemned Israel’s dangerous and bloody escalation against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, the Saudi Press Agency said on Sunday.

In a statement, Al Yamahi described the systematic starvation and deadly siege in Gaza, leaving vulnerable populations to face death, as a full-fledged crime occurring before a silent world. He voiced calls on the international community to shirk its moral, legal, and humanitarian responsibilities towards a people facing annihilation through mass starvation, a scenario deemed unbearable to human conscience.

Al Yamahi also condemned the Israeli occupation forces’ bombing of places of worship in Gaza, describing it as a war crime and holding the occupying forces fully responsible for the attack.

He urged the international community to take immediate and effective action to halt the aggression, open urgent and sustainable humanitarian aid corridors, and hold occupation leaders accountable as war criminals.