Latest news with #RadwanForce
The Guardian
23-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Israeli airstrikes hit south Lebanon before region's first elections in years
Israel carried out a wave of airstrikes on south Lebanon, killing one person and wounding another, before the first municipal elections in south Lebanon in more than nine years. The strikes began on Thursday afternoon and the Israeli military issued an evacuation warning for residents of Toul, just outside the city of Nabatieh, before carrying out an airstrike there. People were advised to evacuate to more than 500 metres away from a highlighted building in Toul that the Israeli military said was a facility belonging to the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia. Israel bombed at least five other towns in south Lebanon later on Thursday, killing what Israel said was a member of Hezbollah's elite commando unit, the Radwan force. Israel carries out near-daily airstrikes in Lebanon despite a November ceasefire that ended the Israel-Hezbollah war, which started after Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel on 8 October 2023 in solidarity with the Hamas attack the day prior. Israel has claimed it is stopping violations of the ceasefire but Lebanon says the Israeli airstrikes trample on its sovereignty and has called for ceasefire violations to be handled by the international monitoring committee set up in the November agreement. Lebanon's prime minister, Nawaf Salam, condemned the Israeli attacks on Thursday, saying they came at a 'dangerous' time, less than two days before municipal elections in Lebanon's south. Officials have for months grappled with how to hold elections in south Lebanon, fearful for voters' safety amid Israeli strikes, as well as facing logistical challenges due to the scale of the destruction there. 'Prime Minister Salam stresses that these violations will not thwart the state's commitment to holding the elections and protecting Lebanon and the Lebanese,' Salam's office said in a statement. Lebanon has not held municipal elections since 2016 owing to lack of funds and the Israel-Hezbollah war. Saturday's elections in the south are the fourth round of voting, which has been held every weekend since the beginning of May in a different region of Lebanon each time. Lebanese officials view the municipal elections as a key step towards building the Lebanese state, which for the past two decades had been dominated by Hezbollah. The Lebanese government, formed after the ceasefire, has made nation-building and restoring the state's monopoly on violence key priorities. Lebanon's political system is largely divided among sectarian lines, and sect and geography are the largest determinants for political leanings. Elections in other regions of Lebanon have so far largely resulted in victories for Lebanon's traditional political parties, with the Christian Lebanese Forces enjoying a slight bump in popularity. In south Lebanon, the municipal elections are seen as a referendum on Hezbollah. Hezbollah historically enjoys widespread support in south Lebanon, but the group's base was hit hard by the war with Israel, which reduced many Lebanese border towns to rubble. Reconstruction money promised by Hezbollah during the war has not yet come. The group's finances have been strangled as the Lebanese state cuts off routes through the border with Syria and Beirut's airport that Hezbollah used in the past to get funds. The secretary general of Hezbollah, Naim Qassem, called on his supporters to go to the polls on Saturday and secure a 'resounding' victory for the group.
Arab News
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Israel strikes south Lebanon, army says Hezbollah fighter killed
BEIRUT: Lebanese state media said an Israeli air strike hit a building in southern Lebanon on Thursday after Israel's military issued an evacuation call warning of imminent action against Hezbollah militants. Israel has kept up its air strikes in neighboring Lebanon despite a November truce aimed at halting more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah that included two months of full-blown war. Without confirming the reported attack on the southern town of Toul, the Israeli military said its forces had carried out several strikes targeting Hezbollah sites and killed one militant. Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) said that 'the Israeli enemy' struck a building in Toul, where the army had warned residents to evacuate the area around a building it said was used by Hezbollah militants. The 'urgent warning' was accompanied by a map showing a structure and the 500-meter (0.3-mile) radius around it marked in red. 'You are located near facilities belonging to the terrorist (group) Hezbollah,' the statement said in Arabic, urging people 'to evacuate these buildings immediately and move away from them.' There were no immediate reports of casualties in Toul. In a separate statement, the military said it had 'struck and eliminated a Hezbollah Radwan Force terrorist in the area of Rab El Thalathine,' about 17 kilometers (10 miles) to the southeast. The NNA reported a 'martyr' in an air strike in the same area, without identifying them. The Israeli military said its forces also 'struck a Hezbollah military site containing rocket launchers and weapons' in the Bekaa Valley as well as 'terrorist infrastructure sites and rocket launchers belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization... in southern Lebanon.' A military statement said that 'the presence of weapons in the area and Hezbollah activities at the site constitute blatant violations of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon' under the November ceasefire agreement. Israel will 'continue to operate to remove any threat... and will prevent any attempt by Hezbollah to re-establish its terror capabilities,' it said. Under the ceasefire, Hezbollah fighters were to pull back north of the Litani River and dismantle military infrastructure south of it. Israel was to withdraw all forces from Lebanon, but it has kept troops in five areas that it deems 'strategic.' The Lebanese army has deployed in the south and has been dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure. The truce was based on a UN Security Council resolution that says Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers should be the only people to bear arms in south Lebanon, and calls for the disarmament of all non-state groups.
Middle East Eye
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
Israel says drone strike in Lebanon killed Radwan Force commander
The Israeli military said on Wednesday that a drone strike on Lebanon killed a commander of Hezbollah's Radwan Force. Israel said it launched two drone strikes in Lebanon. The Radwan commander was killed in Yater, southern Lebanon, Israel said.
Arab News
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Lebanon says 9 wounded in Israeli strike
BEIRUT: Lebanon's health ministry said an Israeli strike on Tuesday wounded nine people in the country's south, the latest attack despite a ceasefire between Israel and militant group latest reported strike, which the Israeli military did not immediately comment on, came a day after Israel said it had killed a member of Hezbollah's elite Radwan force in the border area of Lebanese health ministry on Tuesday said that an 'Israeli enemy drone' hit a motorcycle in the coastal Tyre people were wounded in the attack including three in 'critical condition,' the ministry said, adding that two children were among the has continued to launch strikes on its northern neighbor despite the November truce that sought to halt more than a year of hostilities with Iran-backed Hezbollah including two months of full-blown the terms of the ceasefire deal, only UN peacekeepers and the Lebanese army should be deployed in southern Lebanon, though Israel has retained its forces in five areas it has declared has called on the international community to pressure Israel to end its attacks and withdraw all its troops.
LBCI
01-05-2025
- Politics
- LBCI
Israel claims killing two Hezbollah members in South Lebanon strikes
Israel's military claimed it killed two Hezbollah members on Thursday in separate strikes in an area of southern Lebanon, despite a fragile ceasefire between the armed group and Israel. "Earlier today, the Israeli military struck and eliminated a 'terrorist' in Hezbollah's Radwan Force in the Meiss El Jabal area of southern Lebanon," an army statement said, adding that it had killed "an additional Hezbollah terrorist" in the same area in another attack. AFP
