Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that Israel has “more surprises in store” for Hezbollah as ground operations continue in southern Lebanon
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Friday said that around 250 Hezbollah fighters, including a number of battalion and company commanders have been killed since the start of its ground operation in Lebanon earlier this week.
It further said that the chief of Hezbollah’s communication networks, Mohammed Rashid Skafi, was killed in the latest airstrike on Beirut.
“Over the last 4 days, the IDF has eliminated 2,000+ military targets and 250 Hezbollah terrorists. Among them: 5 battalion commanders, 10 company commanders and 6 platoon commanders have been eliminated. The Israeli Air Force is also conducting preemptive strikes during these intelligence-based operations in southern Lebanon,” the IDF stated in a post on X.
“Mohammad Rashid Sakafi, the Commander of Hezbollah’s Communications Unit, was killed during a precise, intelligence-based strike in Beirut yesterday,” the IDF had said in an another post on X.
According to the Israeli military, Sakafi was “a senior Hezbollah terrorist who was responsible for the communications unit since 2000” and was “closely affiliated” with high-up Hezbollah officials.
Israel conducted a series of large airstrikes overnight in the southern suburbs of Beirut and targeted another area that cut off the main border crossing between Lebanon and Syria, a key route for tens of thousands of people fleeing the Israeli bombardment.
The strike, which Israel has not commented on, follows the recent exodus of 310,000 people, mainly Syrians, fleeing the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon to seek safety in neighbouring Syria.
2 Israeli Soldiers Killed
However, amid the ongoing missile attacks, two Israeli soldiers were killed and 24 were injured during combat in northern Israel on Friday, the IDF said.
“Sergeant Daniel Aviv Haim Sofer (19) an apprentice, and Corporal Tal Dror (19), a communications soldier in the 13th Battalion, Golani Brigade, fell during combat in northern Israel”, the IDF said in a statement.
According to an IDF probe, two explosive-laden drones were launched from Iraq in the attack, one of which was shot down by air defenses and the second impacted an army base in the northern Golan Heights, The Times Of Israel reported.
“Hezbollah is receiving very severe blows, one after the other. We eliminated [Hezbollah chief Hassan] Nasrallah and we have more surprises in store, some of which have already been carried out and some of which will be carried out,” Gallant said during a visit to the 36th Division’s headquarters in northern Israel.
Gallant further added that the IDF is “carrying out an operation today in several villages, and this process will continue wherever necessary to destroy all the infrastructure from which Hezbollah planned to carry out attacks.”
