Three Israelis were wounded in Hezbollah attacks on northern Israel on Wednesday, according to medics.
A 70-year-old man was lightly wounded when rocket shrapnel hit his car in the Upper Galilee, the Magen David Adom emergency service said. The victim suffered a minor head wound and was evacuated to Ziv Hospital in Safed.
Earlier, two farmers were wounded, including one seriously, when a Hezbollah rocket struck an agricultural field near the evacuated Israeli border town of Metula. The other victim was lightly wounded.
The two were transported by helicopter to Rambam Medical Center in Haifa for treatment.
On Wednesday morning, the Iranian-backed terror army launched a missile that triggered sirens as far south as Netanya. According to the Israel Defense Forces, the missile broke up in the air.
The IDF also reported on Wednesday morning that three drones had crossed from Lebanon into the Western Galilee, all of which were intercepted. Israel Fire and Rescue services were operating to extinguish a blaze ignited in the area of Gesher HaZiv.
No injuries were reported in the incidents.
Additionally, a drone strike early Wednesday in Nahariya caused minor damage to an aerospace component facility. The IDF was investigating why alarms weren’t triggered by the attack.
The IDF said that as of 3 p.m. local time on Wednesday, 50 projectiles had been fired into Israel by Hezbollah.
On Tuesday, one person was killed by a Hezbollah rocket in the northern Israeli town of Ma’alot Tarshiha. Israeli media identified the fatality as Mohammad Naim, 24.
Also on Tuesday, a Hezbollah drone detonated over a pedestrian bridge in Nahariya in northwestern Israel. No injuries were reported.
Israeli Air Force eliminates Radwan commander
The IDF announced on Wednesday that Mustafa Ahmad Shakhadi, deputy commander of Hezbollah’s Radwan Force, had been killed in an Israeli airstrike near Nabatieh in Southern Lebanon.
The IDF emphasized that his removal from the battlefield “further impairs the Radwan Force’s ability to function and carry out terror activities against IDF forces and the Israeli civilian front along the northern border, specifically its plan to seize the Galilee.”
Shakhadi in his previous roles was responsible for Radwan operations during the Syria conflict from 2012 to 2017, and also managed the unit’s combat operations in Southern Lebanon.
“The Radwan Force is Hezbollah’s elite unit, aimed at infiltrating Israeli territory and capturing areas near the northern border,” the military said. “The IDF will continue to act against Hezbollah terrorists and commanders and to thwart any threat facing Israeli citizens.”
IDF issues evacuation orders for Baalbek
Residents of Baalbek were reportedly rushing to flee the city, located east of the Litani River in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley, following evacuation orders issued by Israel’s military.
The IDF was urging civilians in Baalbek and surrounding villages to leave immediately, warning that it was preparing attacks on Hezbollah targets.
Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, head of the Arab Media Branch in the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, tweeted that “the [Israeli army] will act forcefully against Hezbollah interests within your city and villages.” Evacuation instructions were included in the post and a map was displayed with the evacuation routes.
AFP reported that the main roads out of the city were packed with vehicles, with civil defense vehicles driving around urging civilians to leave immediately. About an hour after the evacuation orders, the city was nearly empty.