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IAF hits underground Hezbollah terror facility in Lebanon

Efforts to reestablish the site violate the truce with Beirut, the IDF said,

An Israeli Air Force F-35I fighter jets lands at the Nevatim Airbase near Beersheva in 2024. Credit: IDF Spokesperson's Unit.
An Israeli Air Force F-35I fighter jets lands at the Nevatim Airbase near Beersheva in 2024. Credit: IDF Spokesperson's Unit.

Israeli Air Force fighter jets struck a Hezbollah site in southeastern Lebanon’s Nabatieh Governorate on Friday, targeting a facility used to manage the terrorist group’s fire and defense systems in the Beaufort Ridge area, the Israel Defense Forces said.

According to the IDF, the site was part of a significant underground infrastructure project that was previously destroyed during the war but had recently been the focus of Hezbollah rehabilitation efforts.

“The presence of this site and the attempts to reestablish it constitute a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” the military said in a statement.

“The IDF will not allow Hezbollah to operate at the site and will continue to act to eliminate any threat against the State of Israel,” it added.

On Thursday, the IAF killed an elite Hezbollah terrorist commander, also in Lebanon’s Nabatiye Governorate.

The airstrike in the village of Baraachit, located less than four miles from the border, killed a commander in Hezbollah’s Radwan Force, a unit of terrorists specialized in infiltrating Israel and capturing areas around the Jewish state’s northern frontier, the IDF said.

In a separate strike nearby, a terrorist in the Hezbollah’s observation force was killed in the Beit Lif area, according to the army.

In another announcement, the military revealed that its soldiers dismantled a terror structure in the nearby Houla area, in a “special operation based on prior intelligence” on Wednesday night.

The structure was the residence of Ahmad Ghazi Ali, a terror operative “who was eliminated last week in the same area after he was identified attempting to reestablish Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in the area,” it stated, noting that the structure was a “clear violation” of the ceasefire with Lebanon.

On Tuesday, the Israeli Air Force killed Haytham Abdullah Bakri, the head of the Al-Sadiq Currency Exchange, in a strike in Kfar Dajjal, also in the Nabatiye Governorate. The exchange serves as a transfer mechanism for Hezbollah, handling funds originating from the Iranian Quds Force, the Israeli military said.

The funds are used by Hezbollah for terrorism-related purposes, including purchasing arms, manufacturing materials, paying operatives’ salaries and supporting other ongoing operations, according to a statement.

On Nov. 26, 2024, Israel and Lebanon signed a ceasefire deal aimed at ending more than a year of cross-border clashes between the IDF and Hezbollah. The Iranian-backed terrorist group began attacking the Jewish state in support of Hamas following the terror group’s attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Since the truce, Jerusalem has carried out frequent operations aimed at preventing Hezbollah from reestablishing its “military” capabilities in Southern Lebanon, which would violate the ceasefire agreement.

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