Israeli officer injured in overnight clash with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon
An Israeli officer was moderately wounded during a night encounter with Hezbollah gunmen in the Ali Taher Ridge area, after which the Israeli military said it struck and killed the attackers.
An Israeli officer was moderately injured in a night-time clash with Hezbollah gunmen in the Ali Taher Ridge area near Nabatiyeh, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Saturday. The officer was taken to a hospital and his family was notified, the military added.
The IDF reported that it subsequently carried out a strike that killed the Hezbollah operatives involved in the fight. Israeli forces have been monitoring a tunnel network beneath the ridge, which they say still shelters dozens of Hezbollah members.
Because of a cease-fire framework signed in late June, the IDF has not been able to seize the underground passages, though it continues operations elsewhere in south Lebanon. No immediate comment was received from Lebanese authorities or Hezbollah, and the group has not claimed any attacks since June 20.
The U.S.-backed agreement calls for Lebanon’s army to disarm Hezbollah and for Israeli forces to withdraw from designated “pilot zones” that Lebanese troops will later occupy. Israel has withdrawn from one such zone but says it will not pull back from additional areas along its forward defense line until Hezbollah is disarmed.
"The additional [withdrawal] areas will not be on our side, in the defense lines that we have stabilized," an Israeli official said, adding that further withdrawals will not be permitted without a disarmament agreement.
Direct talks between Israel and Lebanon are scheduled to begin on August 4 in Rome and are expected to run through Thursday, focusing on implementing the framework agreement and addressing security concerns.
The latest round of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah began on March 2, after Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel. Israel responded with an aerial campaign and a ground incursion that, according to Lebanese authorities, has displaced more than a million people and caused over 4,300 deaths, without distinguishing between combatants and civilians. Israel claimed at the end of last month that it had killed at least 2,500 Hezbollah fighters, including members of the group’s elite Radwan Force.
Lebanese political leaders have criticized Hezbollah for involving the country in the conflict while also condemning Israel’s strikes. Hezbollah has rejected the talks and the framework agreement but has not taken direct military action to disrupt them.