IDF says it killed 3 Hezbollah operatives in south Lebanon strikes

Members of terror group killed in 3 separate drone strikes targeting vehicles in villages of Yater, Safad al-Battikh and Jouaiya

The Israel Defense Forces on Sunday carried out three separate drone strikes in southern Lebanon, targeting what it said were three Hezbollah operatives who were violating the terms of the ceasefire agreement.

Lebanese media reported that Israeli aircraft carried out strikes against vehicles in the south Lebanon towns of Yater, Safad al-Battikh, and Jouaiya. According to the IDF, all three strikes resulted in the deaths of the Hezbollah operatives.

During the morning, the military said it struck and killed a Hezbollah member in the village of Yater, who it said was involved in restoring the terror group’s infrastructure.

Within an hour, the IDF said it struck and killed another Hezbollah operative near Bint Jbeil, close to Safad al-Battikh. That operative served as the terror group’s local representative in the village and, as part of his role, was responsible for liaising between the terror group and the residents “on economic and military matters,” according to the military.

In the afternoon, the IDF said it carried out a strike near Jouaiya, killing Zakariya Yahya al-Hajj, who the military said was a senior Hezbollah operative in the area.

“As part of his role, he ran agents within Lebanon’s security apparatus. Additionally, the terrorist al-Hajj acted to suppress criticism by opponents of Hezbollah in Lebanon,” the IDF said.

The military said that the activities of the three operatives “constituted a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” referring to the November 2024 ceasefire.

The Lebanese health ministry confirmed that an Israeli strike on a motorcycle in Yater killed one individual and wounded another. A strike targeting a car in Safad al-Battikh killed another person, it said.

According to Lebanese media reports, one person was killed in the strike on a car in Jouaiya.

Israeli strikes on the terror group have been a frequent occurrence since the ceasefire, which called on both Israel and Hezbollah to withdraw from southern Lebanon, and allowed Israel to respond to immediate threats.

Sunday’s strikes came after an unusual occurrence on Saturday in which the IDF issued a warning to residents of the southern Lebanon town of Yanouh ahead of planned airstrikes against Hezbollah infrastructure, but postponed the strike after Lebanese troops went to search the site.

For Israel to postpone such a strike after making a public warning was rare, though it has on many occasions alerted ceasefire monitors and then postponed a strike before ever issuing such a warning.

In a statement, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee said that after the military issued the evacuation warning, the Lebanese army requested, via the ceasefire monitoring mechanism, to “access the site that had been implicated and to address the violation of the agreement.”

“The IDF decided to allow this, and accordingly, the strike was postponed,” Adraee said, adding: “The IDF is continuously monitoring the target and remains in contact with the mechanism.”

Lebanese media reported that United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) forces were also present at the site.

The US-brokered ceasefire in November 2024 with Hezbollah came after two months of open conflict in south Lebanon, which Israel invaded in a bid to ensure the return home of some 60,000 northerners displaced by Hezbollah’s near-daily attacks. The rocket attacks began on October 8, 2023 — a day after fellow Iran-backed terror group Hamas invaded southern Israel, sparking the war in Gaza.

The ceasefire required both Israel and Hezbollah to vacate southern Lebanon, to be replaced by the Lebanese military. Israel has withdrawn from all but five strategic posts along the border.

Since the ceasefire, the IDF said it has killed over 380 Hezbollah operatives in strikes, hit hundreds of Hezbollah sites, and conducted over 1,200 raids and other small operations in southern Lebanon. The IDF has recently intensified its attacks, meant to stop the terror group from rebuilding, including killing Hezbollah’s chief of staff in a rare strike in Beirut last month.

Weakened by the war and still facing regular Israeli strikes, Hezbollah is under domestic and international pressure to hand over its weapons, with the Lebanese army having drawn up a plan to disarm it.

Agencies contributed to this report.