An Israeli strike on southern Lebanon early on Monday killed a area commander within the heavily-armed Lebanese group Hezbollah, because the United Nations warned that shelling was spreading and urged a halt to the violence.
Hezbollah and the Israeli army have been exchanging hearth throughout Lebanon’s southern frontier in parallel with the Gaza conflict, including to fears of a wider regional battle.
Early on Monday, Israeli fighter jets hit the village of al-Sultaniyah and killed a area commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan items and two different folks, the Israeli army and two Lebanese safety sources mentioned.
The Israeli army recognized the commander as Ali Ahmed Hassin, and mentioned he was chargeable for planning and executing assaults towards Israelis. Hezbollah issued a funeral discover for Hassin however with out particulars of his function.
Israeli strikes have killed round 270 Hezbollah fighters within the final six months in addition to round 50 civilians, together with youngsters, medics and journalists. Hezbollah’s rocket hearth has killed round a dozen Israeli troopers and half as many civilians.
The shelling has displaced tens of 1000’s on all sides and hit the farming financial system in southern Lebanon significantly arduous, with bombed-out fields left unplanted or unharvested.
In a joint assertion on Monday, United Nations’ Special Coordinator for Lebanon Joanna Wronecka and the commander of the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, Aroldo Lazaro, mentioned the violence should cease.
“The unrelenting cycle of strikes and counterstrikes in breach of the cessation of hostilities constitute the most serious violation of Security Council Resolution 1701 since its adoption in 2006,” they mentioned.
That UN resolution ended a month-long conflict between Hezbollah and Israel almost 20 years in the past however a lot of its factors – together with a withdrawal of armed teams from the south and deployment of Lebanese military troops – had been by no means applied.
