Israeli airstrike kills Hezbollah commander

Death of Hussein Ali Azkul is a ‘significant blow to the capabilities of terrorist group’s aerial unit’.

ittle remained of the car hit by the Israelis inside Lebanese territory. Picture: AFP

An Israeli airstrike on a coastal town in southern Lebanon has killed a senior member of Hezbollah’s air defence group in his car.

Drone video released by the ­Israeli army shows a light-coloured car being blown up as it moves. A secondary explosion takes place further down the road after the front of the car veers off into the bushes in flames.

Hussein Ali Azkul was a key operative in southern Lebanon’s aerial defence unit, according to Israel, which has accused him of planning and conducting attacks against it.

“His elimination was a significant blow to the capabilities of Hezbollah’s aerial unit,” the ­Israeli military said.

Hezbollah said that it had launched a retaliatory drone ­attack against two Israeli military bases north of the city of Acre.

The group described its attack, which was the deepest into Israeli territory since October 7, as “a combined air attack using decoy and explosive drones”.

It added that it was in response to one of the Israeli strikes that killed one of its members in south Lebanon.

The IDF said that it had intercepted two suspicious aerial targets off Israel’s northern coast. Sirens sounded to warn residents of the possibility of fallen shrapnel from the interception.

Israel and Hezbollah, Iran’s most powerful regional proxy, have been locked in escalating tit-for-tat exchanges across the border in Lebanon since the Hamas attacks on October 7. The latest strike in Abu al-Aswad, 35km from the border, is an example of Israel targeting ever deeper into Lebanese territory.

Another Israeli strike overnight on Tuesday killed a member of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force aerial unit, in charge of drones for attacks and intelligence gathering, according to Alma, an Israeli research institute.

“The terrorist Sajed Sarafand, a significant terrorist of the Radwan Forces’ aerial unit in the Hezbollah terrorist organisation, was eliminated in the area of Arzoun,” the IDF said.

Arzoun is just over 11km from the Israeli border and the location of frequent strikes and launches by Hezbollah.

On Monday, Israel said Hezbollah fired 35 rockets from ­Arzoun into Israeli territory. The night before, Hezbollah shot down an Israeli drone over southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah acknowledged the deaths of two of its operatives but did not elaborate on their ranks.

As Israel welcomed the week-long festival of Passover, the army reiterated its preparedness in the northern command, vowing to continue to conduct operations against Hezbollah. “Numerous soldiers on land, in the air and at sea are deployed along the northern border. The troops are conducting operations and targeting terrorist infrastructure,” the army wrote on social media.

According to Agence France-Presse, at least 378 people have been killed in Lebanon since ­October 7, mostly Hezbollah fighters but also 70 civilians.

Israel has said that 11 soldiers and eight civilians have been killed on its side of the border. Tens of thousands of residents have been displaced by the fighting in southern Lebanon and northern Israel.

The Times