IDF kills Hezbollah Radwan Force terrorist in Southern Lebanon

The Israeli military eliminated Ali Abd al-Hassan Haidar, a senior commander in Hezbollah’s Radwan Force, during an airstrike in the Deir Kifa region of Southern Lebanon on Monday.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, Haidar was responsible for orchestrating several attacks against Israeli civilians and military personnel, and was involved in the so-called “Conquer the Galilee” plan—a plot by the Iranian terror proxy to infiltrate northern Israel, seize territory and capture hostages in the Galilee region.

The military further stated that in recent months, Haidar played a key role in efforts to re-establish Hezbollah’s operational infrastructure in Southern Lebanon, actions Israel considers a direct breach of previous understandings between itself and Lebanon.

Approximately two hours after the strike on Haidar, the IDF reported the elimination of another Hezbollah operative in the Beit Lif area, also in Southern Lebanon.

Furthermore, the IDF announced on Wednesday that the head of firepower for the Zahrani Sector in Hezbollah’s Badr Unit was killed in an Israeli strike on Tuesday night. The IDF reported that Hussein Ali Muzhir was eliminated in the area of Al-Babliyah in Southern Lebanon.

“As part of his role, Hussein advanced numerous attacks against the State of Israel and IDF troops, and recently he was involved in Hezbollah’s attempts to establish artillery capabilities in Southern Lebanon,” the IDF stated, adding that his activities represented a “blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”

IDF eliminates key Hamas terrorist in Lebanon

The IDF announced on Tuesday that it had targeted and struck a significant Hamas terror operative near Tripoli, Lebanon. In a subsequent statement, the IDF identified the individual as Mehran Mustafa Ba’jur.

According to the military, Ba’jur played a central role for years in orchestrating attacks against the IDF and Israeli civilians, including directing rocket barrages at cities such as Nahariya and Kiryat Shmona during the war.

He was instrumental in building Hamas’s terror infrastructure and capabilities in Lebanon, overseeing force expansion and leveraging ties with other terrorist groups to procure weapons, the IDF stated.

The IDF said his death was a major blow to Hamas’s operational strength and terror activities in Lebanon.

Likud lawmaker: Hezbollah’s capabilities severely weakened

“We have cut off the weapons transfer routes to Hezbollah from Iran through Syria,” Likud lawmaker Tally Gotliv told JNS on Tuesday. “Hezbollah is very weak. It has suffered intense attacks from Israel, with severe damage to its leadership, severe damage to its fighters, and continuous damage inflicted by our forces,” she added.

“Israel has suppressed Hezbollah’s attempts to organize or act in Lebanon. As a terrorist organization, Hezbollah weakens the country and threatens the possibility of a normal, reasonable quality of life for its citizens,” she continued.

In late November, Jerusalem and Beirut signed a ceasefire deal aimed at ending more than a year of cross-border clashes between the IDF and Hezbollah. The Iranian-backed group began attacking the Jewish state in support of Hamas in the aftermath of the Gaza-based terror group’s attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Since the truce, Jerusalem has carried out frequent operations aimed at preventing Hezbollah from re-establishing its capabilities in Southern Lebanon in violation of the truce.

“Israel will not agree to return to the reality of Oct. 6, 2023—not in Gaza and not in Lebanon,” Religious Zionism lawmaker Ohad Tal told JNS on Tuesday.

“We will continue to enforce the November 2024 agreement with strength and determination, and we will prevent any attempt by Hezbollah to reestablish itself in southern Lebanon. The lives of our citizens depend on it,” he continued.

“I believe the Lebanese government understands that if it allows Hezbollah to rearm along Israel’s northern border, the destruction we’ve seen in Lebanon so far will have been just a preview of what’s to come,” he added.

The IDF launched a wave of attacks on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon late on Sunday night, targeting multiple military sites and weapons storage facilities, the military stated.

Israel’s military said on July 5 that it had killed a Radwan Force terrorist in Aynata, southeastern Lebanon.

In a separate operation, the IDF and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) confirmed that the elimination of Qasem Salah al-Husseini, a Lebanese terrorist affiliated with the Quds Force, the branch of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that specializes in unconventional warfare and military intelligence operations, during a strike on July 3 in Kafr Sil, south of Beirut.

U.S. envoy Thomas Barrack said on Monday in Beirut that Hezbollah “needs to see that there’s a future for them.”

Speaking to reporters after meeting Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, Washington’s ambassador to Turkey and special envoy to Syria was quoted by AFP as saying, “Hezbollah is a political party. It also has a militant aspect to it. Hezbollah needs to see that there’s a future for them, that the road is not harnessed solely against them, and that there’s an intersection of peace and prosperity for them also.”

Hezbollah is designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. State Department.

A U.S. State Department official told JNS on Tuesday that “our position has not changed—[Hezbollah] is a designated terrorist organization, and we do not distinguish between its political or armed wings.”

“As Ambassador Barrack said while in Beirut, Lebanon must utilize this moment to make progress, and that includes progress on disarming” the terrorist group, the official added.

Barrack’s comments were made in the context of a roadmap for Hezbollah’s disarmament, which he delivered to the Lebanese government on behalf of U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“I’m unbelievably satisfied with the response,” Barrack said at the press conference following his meeting with Aoun. “It’s thoughtful, it’s considered. We’re creating a go-forward plan. To create that, we need dialogue. What the government gave us was something spectacular in a very short period of time.”