In the latent war that Israel is waging in the north against Lebanese Hezbollah, support of Hamas and Iran, the Israeli army announced that it had killed a commander of an elite Hezbollah unit during a raid on the south. from Lebanon during the night from Sunday to Monday.
Early Monday, Israeli warplanes struck the village of Sultaniyé or al-Sultaniyah, located a dozen kilometers from the Israeli-Lebanese border, and killed an active commander of the elite al-Radwan units as well as two other people, the Israeli army and two Lebanese security sources said.
Israeli hunters “struck and eliminated Ali Ahmad Hussein, the commander of the al-Radwan forces of the Hezbollah terrorist organization in the al-Houjair region,” reveals the IDF press release, attributing to him “numerous shots in the direction of Israeli territory. According to the Israeli news site Walla news, his rank is equivalent to a major general in the Israeli army, one of the highest ranks.
Hezbollah published a funeral notice for Hussein, whose warrior name was Abbas Jaafar, without giving details of his role or the location of his death. According to the Lebanese National Information Agency (official Ani), the Israeli strike targeted “a house” and caused “huge damage” in the village.
2,500 fighters?
Information on the elite al-Radwan units is scant. In November, Hezbollah assured that it did not know the number of fighters serving within this force, whereas Israel estimated their number at 2,500. Several propaganda videos, revealed in recent months by the Hezbollah information organ, Hezbollah, show that the soldiers of this unit are very well equipped and that they operate between southern Lebanon and northern Israel.
Since the Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel on October 7, and the ensuing war in Gaza, clashes on the border of southern Lebanon have been almost daily, between the Israeli defense forces and the militia supporting Hamas and the 'Iran. Israeli strikes have killed around 270 Hezbollah fighters over the past six months as well as around 50 civilians, including children, doctors and journalists. Hezbollah rocket fire killed a dozen Israeli soldiers and half as many civilians.
In a joint statement on Monday, the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Joanna Wronecka, and the commander of the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, UNIFIL, Aroldo Lazaro, said the violence must stop .
“The incessant cycle of strikes and counterattacks in violation of the cessation of hostilities constitutes the most serious violation of Security Council resolution 1701 since its adoption in 2006,” they criticize. Resolution 1701 ended a month-long war between Hezbollah and Israel nearly two decades ago, but many of its points – including the withdrawal of armed groups from the south and the deployment of troops from the Lebanese army – were never implemented.
The unrelenting cycle of strikes and counterstrikes in breach of the cessation of hostilities constitutes the most serious violation of Security Council Resolution 1701 since its adoption in 2006.
— UNIFIL (@UNIFIL_) April 8, 2024
“The gradual expansion of the scope and scale of clashes well beyond the Blue Line considerably increases the risk of miscalculations and aggravation of an already alarming situation,” they also say, then that tens of thousands of inhabitants, on each side of the border, were forced to move.