Israeli airstrikes eliminate senior Hezbollah commanders in southern Lebanon

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have reported the elimination of three field commanders from the Shiite movement Hezbollah during airstrikes in southern Lebanon.

“Israeli Air Force strikes targeted the Tibnine area and killed Abbas Salam, a senior commander of Hezbollah’s Southern Front. Additionally, senior communications expert Rada Abbas Awada and Hezbollah's head of weapons production, Ahmed Ali Hussein, were also eliminated,” Caliber.Az reports, citing the IDF press office.

“These eliminations are part of the IDF’s broader efforts to prevent Hezbollah from increasing its stockpile of weapons,” the statement added.

Moreover, as of October 20 morning, the Israeli military also reported the destruction of more than 65 militants of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, dozens of Hezbollah terrorist targets, including positions, launchers aimed at Israeli civilians and terrorist infrastructure.

On October 19, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health reported that four people were killed and 13 wounded in an Israeli air strike on an apartment building in the eastern town of Baaloul in the Western Bekaa district.

On the night of October 19 to 20, an Israeli air strike on Gaza's northern city of Beit Lahia killed at least 73 people, official Palestinian media reported as rescuers combed the rubble for survivors.

Israel launched "violent raids" across Beit Lahia late on October 19, the official Wafa news agency said, destroying an entire residential block. Dozens more were wounded. The death toll is expected to rise, with many victims still under rubble, according to Gaza's civil defence.

Israeli drones also fired at an ambulance and tents sheltering displaced Palestinians in the grounds of Al Awda Hospital, Wafa added. It came hours after a child was killed and several others wounded in Israeli shelling on Nuseirat refugee camp.

Beit Lahia, the nearby Jabalia refugee camp and other parts of northern Gaza have been besieged by Israeli forces for more than two weeks. The site of Saturday's deadly attack was even more densely populated than usual after civilians fled from other parts of the north, according to local reports.

On September 23, Israel launched an intense air campaign on Lebanon and later sent in ground forces after nearly a year of cross-border exchanges of fire with Hezbollah over the Gaza war.

At least 2,448 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon since October 2023, according to Lebanese health authorities.

By Khagan Isayev