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Israeli Airstrike Kills Several Hezbollah Members in South Lebanon

Smoke billows from a site targeted by Israeli shelling in the southern Lebanese village of Boustane near the border with Israel on July 18, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (Photo by Kawnat HAJU / AFP)
Smoke billows from a site targeted by Israeli shelling in the southern Lebanese village of Boustane near the border with Israel on July 18, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (Photo by Kawnat HAJU / AFP)
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Israeli Airstrike Kills Several Hezbollah Members in South Lebanon

Smoke billows from a site targeted by Israeli shelling in the southern Lebanese village of Boustane near the border with Israel on July 18, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (Photo by Kawnat HAJU / AFP)
Smoke billows from a site targeted by Israeli shelling in the southern Lebanese village of Boustane near the border with Israel on July 18, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (Photo by Kawnat HAJU / AFP)

An Israeli airstrike late Thursday killed members of Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force at a home in southern Lebanon, state media and a Hezbollah official said.
A Hezbollah official said the strike killed several members of the secretive Radwan Force, which operates along the border. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, gave no further details or the names of the members killed.
The airstrike on the village of Jmaijmeh also wounded several people and ambulances rushed to the area, state-run National News Agency said. The agency did not immediately report deaths.
Earlier in the day, two separate drone strikes in south Lebanon and another in the eastern Bekaa Valley killed a Hezbollah member and an official of al-Jamaa al-Islamiya.

The Israeli military said it had killed a Radwan Force operations unit commander it named as Ali Jaafar Maatouk, along with another commander responsible for Radwan Force operations in the Hajir region. It said additional Radwan Force fighters were also killed in the strike.

Maatouk was killed in one of several strikes on the neighboring border villages of Safad El Battikh and Jmaijmeh, sources said. Eighteen wounded were taken to nearby Tebnine government hospital, its director Mohammed Hamadi told Reuters.

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UN Court Opinion Due on Occupied Palestinian Land

People in front of the Peace Palace ahead of a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on a request from South Africa for emergency measures for Gaza, in The Hague, Netherlands, 26 January 2024. (EPA)
People in front of the Peace Palace ahead of a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on a request from South Africa for emergency measures for Gaza, in The Hague, Netherlands, 26 January 2024. (EPA)
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UN Court Opinion Due on Occupied Palestinian Land

People in front of the Peace Palace ahead of a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on a request from South Africa for emergency measures for Gaza, in The Hague, Netherlands, 26 January 2024. (EPA)
People in front of the Peace Palace ahead of a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on a request from South Africa for emergency measures for Gaza, in The Hague, Netherlands, 26 January 2024. (EPA)

The UN's top court will on Friday hand down its view on the legal consequences of Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories since 1967, amid growing international pressure over the war in Gaza.
Any opinion delivered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) would be non-binding, but it comes amid mounting concern over Israel's war against Hamas sparked by the group's brutal October 7 attacks.
A separate high-profile case brought before the court by South Africa alleges that Israel has committed genocidal acts during its Gaza offensive.
Judges will read their findings at 1300 GMT at the opulent Peace Palace in The Hague, the home of the ICJ.
The UN's General Assembly asked the ICJ in late 2022 to give an "advisory opinion" on the "legal consequences arising from the policies and practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem".
The ICJ held a week-long session in February to hear submissions from countries following the request -- supported by most countries within the Assembly.
Most speakers too during the hearings called on Israel to end its 57-year occupation. They warned a prolonged occupation posed an "extreme danger" to stability in the Middle East and beyond.
But the United States said Israel should not be legally obliged to withdraw without taking its "very real security needs" into account.
Israel did not take part in the oral hearings.
Instead, it submitted a written contribution in which it described the questions the court had been asked as "prejudicial" and "tendentious".
'Ongoing violation'
The General Assembly has asked the ICJ to consider two questions.
Firstly, the court should examine the legal consequences of what the UN called "the ongoing violation by Israel of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination".
This relates to the "prolonged occupation, settlement and annexation of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967" and "measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem".
In June 1967, Israel crushed some of its Arab neighbors in a six-day war, seizing the West Bank including east Jerusalem from Jordan, the Golan Heights from Syria, and the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula from Egypt.
Israel then began to settle the 70,000 square kilometers (27,000 square miles) of seized Arab territory.
The UN later declared the occupation of Palestinian territory illegal, and Cairo regained Sinai under its 1979 peace deal with Israel.
The ICJ has also been asked to look into the consequences of what it described as Israel's "adoption of related discriminatory legislation and measures".
Secondly, the ICJ should advise on how Israel's actions "affect the legal status of the occupation" and what are the consequences for the UN and other countries.
The ICJ rules in disputes between states. Normally, its judgements are binding although it has little means to enforce them.
In this case however, the opinion it issues will be non-binding, although most advisory opinions are in fact acted upon.