Israeli forces carried out a wave of strikes on the Ali al-Taher heights and the wider Nabatieh area in southern Lebanon on Thursday, after accusing Hezbollah of launching explosive drones at its troops.
Footage shows a blast erupting in the distance, followed by flames and thick smoke rising into the sky. Footage also shows columns of smoke billowing from behind the hills.
The Israeli army said it struck “infrastructure belonging to the terrorist organisation Hezbollah in the Nabatieh area of southern Lebanon,” including “weapons storage facilities established with the aim of harming Israeli civilians and Israeli army soldiers.”
It added the strikes followed the alleged launch of two explosive-laden drones towards its soldiers operating around the Ali al-Taher ridge, inside what Israel calls its ‘security zone’.
The army reported one drone was intercepted while contact was lost with the second. No Israeli soldiers were injured.
Lebanese media described ‘intensive raids’ around the Ali al-Taher heights, and reported “one female martyr and 6 wounded, including a girl, a woman, and two elderly people” following strikes on the town of Arabsalim in the Nabatieh district.
The ridge is strategically positioned above the Nabatieh area and has become a repeated flashpoint between Israeli forces and Hezbollah.
The strikes follow the seventh round of direct US-sponsored negotiations between Lebanon and Israel in Rome, which focused on an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon, the deployment of the Lebanese army and arrangements surrounding Hezbollah’s weapons.
Lebanon is demanding a full Israeli withdrawal, while Israel wants security guarantees preventing Hezbollah from threatening its northern communities. Hezbollah is not taking part in the negotiations.
Source: Viory
