Hezbollah announces death of three fighters in Israeli attacks in Lebanon

Hezbollah announced today that three of its fighters were killed in Israeli attacks in Lebanon, from where the Iranian-backed Lebanese group launched attacks against northern Israel.

The violence comes in an extremely tense regional context, following an unprecedented attack by Iran over the weekend, using ‘drones’ [aparelhos aéreos não tripulados] and missiles against Israel, which promised to retaliate.

In a statement, the Israeli army said that one of its planes “eliminated Ismail Youssef Baz, commander of the coastal sector” of Hezbollah.

According to a source close to the pro-Iranian party, the fighter was killed in an attack on the village of AÏn Baal, about 15 kilometers from the Israeli border.

Baz was involved in “planning the launch of rockets and anti-tank missiles against Israel (…)”, according to the Israeli army, which also claimed to have hit other Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon.

The National Information Agency (ANI) announced that one person was killed in an Israeli attack in Aïn Baal and that several others were killed, without specifying the number, in an Israeli attack that targeted two cars in the town of Chehabiyé, about ten kilometers away.

Hezbollah announced the death of Baz and two other fighters in the Israeli attacks, without giving further details.

The Shiite Amal movement, an ally of Hezbollah, announced the death of one of its fighters in the attack on Aïn Baal.

Hezbollah and Israel continue the crossfire they began more than six months ago, following the outbreak of the Israeli war against the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip and in a context of increased tensions in the Middle East, following Saturday’s attack on night from Iran to Israel, with more than 300 ‘drones'[unmanned aerial devices]and missiles fired, which caused no deaths. [aparelhosaéreosnãotripulados)emísseisdisparadosquenãocausoumortos

Daily exchanges of artillery fire between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of the war in Gaza have left 364 dead on the Lebanese side – mostly Hezbollah fighters, but also around 70 civilians -, while in northern Israel, ten soldiers and eight civilians were killed, according to the Army.

Tens of thousands of inhabitants were forced to abandon their homes, on both sides of the border.