Hezbollah blames Israel for second assassination in southern Lebanon in two days

Hezbollah confirmed the death of a second operative in an alleged Israeli airstrike on Sunday, the day after another one of its members died in a similar anonymous strike, both carried out in southern Lebanon.

Israel has not publicly commented on allegations that it was responsible for the strikes.

The Lebanese terror group announced the death of Fadel Ali Salman Shaer, an operative in the group’s bodyguard unit, after reports of an alleged Israeli strike on a vehicle in Kafr Kafra, near the town of Bint Jbeil some 10 km (6 mi) north of the border.

However, the intended target of the strike, Fadi Suleiman, a senior field commander responsible for Hezbollah’s southern Lebanon central sector, survived the attack, according to Sky News Arabic.

The IDF says it carried out two waves of strikes against Hezbollah targets in the southern Lebanon village of Markaba earlier today.

The sites hit by fighter jets in Markaba include a military building, observation posts, rocket launch positions, and other infrastructure… pic.twitter.com/gRWre8eO0U

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Following the announcement, Hezbollah took responsibility for the launch of an anti-tank guided missile at the northern Israeli community of Avivim in retaliation, which directly hit a home but did not result in any injuries.

The announcement of Shaer’s death on Saturday brings Hezbollah’s official death toll to 164 since the start of the daily border skirmishes with Israel, which began on Oct. 8. The announcement followed reports of another alleged Israeli assassination attempt on a vehicle near the city of Tyre.

Four people were reportedly killed in the attack, with Hezbollah only confirming the death of Ali Muhammad Hadraj who, according to Israel’s KAN news outlet, coordinated electronic warfare and air defenses between Hezbollah and the Hamas branch in Lebanon.

In addition, Hadraj reportedly served as a senior member in the Palestine unit of the Iranian Quds Force, the elite branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the Arabic al-Arabiya reported.

The two assassinations, together with the killing of five IRGC members in Syria on Saturday, including the chief intel officer of the IRGC in Syria, constitute a heavy blow for the Iranian-led so-called 'Axis of Resistance' in a span of less than 48 hours.

While Israel didn’t comment on the assassinations, the IDF announced two waves of attacks against targets in southern Lebanon, both on Saturday and Sunday.

On Saturday, the Israeli Air Force struck terror infrastructure, observation posts, and launch sites in al-Adaisa and Hula, before hitting observation posts, rocket launch positions, and other infrastructure in Markaba the following day.