3 soldiers hurt in Hezbollah drone attacks in south Lebanon; IDF hits terror sites

Home of south Lebanon mayor reportedly hit as IDF warned 12 villages to evacuate; military says 25 Hezbollah targets hit in the past day, including weapon depots

Three soldiers were injured in Hezbollah explosive drone attacks in southern Lebanon, as the Iran-backed terror group continued to launch attacks on troops and on northern communities on Wednesday.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, Hezbollah launched several explosive drones and rockets at Israeli troops stationed in southern Lebanon throughout the day.

In one incident, a soldier was severely wounded by an explosive drone. In another incident, two drones exploded near Israeli forces, injuring one soldier moderately and another lightly. All three were taken to hospitals and their families were notified, the army said.

In other incidents on Wednesday, rockets and drones struck near forces in the army’s Lebanon buffer zone without causing injuries, while a drone launched by Hezbollah was shot down over southern Lebanon, according to the IDF.

On Wednesday morning, an explosive drone launched by Hezbollah struck in Israeli territory. No injuries were caused in the attack.

The IDF Home Front Command said it would be extending the warning times for rocket fire from Lebanon in 49 communities in the upper, lower, and central Galilee, where currently only 30 seconds are given.

They include 46 communities moving from 30 seconds to 45 seconds, and three communities moving to a full minute. The move will take effect starting Thursday at 4 p.m., according to the Home Front Command.

The continued clashes in the north have underlined challenges facing US efforts to forge peace between Israel and Lebanon, which held rare face-to-face talks last month. Hezbollah has fiercely objected to the government’s decision to hold negotiations with Israel.

Despite the ceasefire reached between Israel and Lebanon in mid-April, which has since been extended into May, Hezbollah has fired rockets and drones at northern Israeli communities, though most attacks have been on troops in southern Lebanon or on the Israeli side of the border.

IDF launches wave of strikes; mayor’s home reportedly hit

The IDF said on Wednesday it launched a wave of airstrikes on Hezbollah infrastructure sites in several areas of southern Lebanon after issuing evacuation warnings for 12 villages in southern Lebanon.

Residents of Kaouthariyet al-Saiyad, Ghassaniyeh, Mazraat al-Daoudiyeh, Bedias, Rihan, Zellaya, Bazouriye, Harouf, Habboush, Ansariyeh, Qalaouiyeh, and Deir ez-Zahrani are instructed to evacuate at least a kilometer away.

Most of the villages are located north of the Litani River.

Lebanese media outlets reported that a strike hit the home of the mayor of the village of Zellaya, Ali Qassem.

According to the reports, women and children were among those killed and wounded.

According to Al-Manar, several members of the mayor’s family were killed and wounded. Earlier, the Lebanese Health Ministry said that four people were killed and five were wounded in the strike on the village.

The IDF has not yet commented on the specific strike.

The IDF Arabic-language spokesperson published the evacuation notice at 9:05 a.m. Initial posts on social media reporting strikes on the village emerged several minutes later.

Official announcements regarding those killed and wounded in the strikes were published in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, the IDF said it killed several Hezbollah operatives in strikes on buildings being used by the terror group in the western sector of southern Lebanon on Tuesday.

Elsewhere in southern Lebanon, the IDF said it struck 25 Hezbollah targets in the past day, including weapon depots.

Earlier, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported Israeli airstrikes in the southern Lebanon towns of Reshknanay and Safad al-Battikh. There were no immediate reports of casualties in the strikes.

Overnight, an Israeli drone strike in the town of Deir Kifa wounded three paramedics of Hezbollah’s Islamic Health Authority, according to NNA.

The latest round of fighting erupted in Lebanon when Hezbollah began attacking across the border after Israel and the US launched their joint campaign against Iran on February 28.

Israel launched massive airstrikes in Lebanon in response to the terror group’s rocket barrages, and launched an operation in southern Lebanon to establish a buffer zone to protect residents of Israel’s north.

Over 2,500 people have been killed and about a million displaced in Lebanon since March 2, according to Lebanese authorities. The IDF says it has killed over 1,900 Hezbollah operatives, including hundreds of members of the terror group’s elite Radwan Force.

Seventeen IDF soldiers and one Defense Ministry civilian contractor have been killed in southern Lebanon amid fighting against Hezbollah. Two civilians were also killed by Hezbollah rockets, and an Israeli civilian was mistakenly killed in the north by Israeli artillery shelling.