Lebanese media reported Israeli airstrikes within the Ali Taher Ridge in southern Lebanon Saturday in a single day, a day after three Israeli troopers had been critically wounded by an explosive drone launched by Hezbollah.
The reported strikes got here hours after residents of the Higher Galilee had been notified by native authorities that explosions had been anticipated to be heard as a result of IDF exercise in Lebanon.
With combating threatening to ramp up in Lebanon and in Gaza, Protection Minister Israel Katz stated in a Sunday morning submit on X: “No rating on any entrance will stay unsettled.”
He added: “We are going to forcefully defend our troopers and residents.”
His feedback come after in a single day reviews of strikes in southern Lebanon, following an assault on troops early Saturday wherein three troopers had been wounded. Israel has not confirmed the reviews.
Earlier Israeli strikes killed 11 in Lebanon, in accordance with native authorities on Saturday, together with three kids and two ladies.
Israeli strikes are focusing on the strategic Ali al Taher Ridge in southern Lebanon, overlooking Nabatieh.
It’s attainable we’re witnessing some kind of particular operation pic.twitter.com/u0agbN3S6M
— Open Supply Intel (@Osint613) August 15, 2026
On Sunday, the Israel Protection Forces stated it had killed a senior Hezbollah commander in an airstrike within the southern Lebanon city of Deir al-Zahrani the day past. It stated the Saturday morning strike on Ali Muhammad Fakhr al-Din got here in response to a Hezbollah explosive drone assault within the predawn hours Saturday that critically wounded three troopers.
Lebanese media reported that the Deir al-Zahrani strike on Saturday morning killed two individuals.
Al-Din, often known as Abu Hassan Alaa, was recognized by the IDF as a “senior commander” in Hezbollah’s Badr regional division. The regional unit is tasked with the realm north of the Litani River. The IDF stated that as a part of his function, Hassan Alaa took half in quite a few assaults on Israeli troops in southern Lebanon.
The assertion from the IDF didn’t tackle the claims of in a single day strikes in southern Lebanon.
The military had introduced beforehand that amongst these killed Saturday was Ali Samir Al-Haj Hassan, a battalion commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Pressure, who was hit in a strike within the city of Ansar.
The Israeli strikes drew harsh criticism from Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun, who accused Israel of sending a “clear message” forward of the following spherical of US-sponsored negotiations between the nations.
The IDF stated three of its troops working within the space of the Ali Taher Ridge had been critically wounded Friday in a single day after being hit by an explosive drone launched by Hezbollah round 2:30 a.m. The drone exploded close to troopers of the elite Yahalom fight engineering unit, critically wounding an officer and two troopers, all three of whom had been taken to a hospital for remedy.
In a uncommon English-language assertion printed on Shabbat, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s workplace stated “Hezbollah violated the ceasefire in Lebanon by attacking our troopers within the safety zone, which protects Israeli communities simply throughout the border.”
“The IDF responded by placing the Hezbollah terror headquarters which ordered the assault,” the PMO stated. “Solely later did the IDF study that Hezbollah intentionally put civilians in that army compound,” the assertion added, acknowledging the civilian casualties.
The army additionally confirmed that ladies and kids had been killed and stated they had been members of the family of the senior Hezbollah commander it focused.
“The headquarters was utilized by the Hezbollah terror group to command its actions within the space,” the army stated.
Aoun condemned what he known as the “ongoing Israeli assaults” on southern Lebanon and “repeated violations of the framework settlement” and worldwide regulation defending civilians, in accordance with a press release from his workplace.
He stated the strikes, together with the assault in Ansar, amounted to a “clear message on the negotiation course of,” however didn’t explicitly threaten to tug out of them.
The feedback got here forward of the following spherical of US-sponsored talks, anticipated to happen in Rome early subsequent month.
Israeli officers cautioned Lebanon towards utilizing the violence as an excuse to tug out of talks and urged a deeper engagement.
Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter, who heads Israel’s negotiating group within the Lebanon talks, stated: “If the Lebanese authorities makes use of this incident as a pretext to delay or discontinue peace talks, it might hand a tactical victory to the enemies of peace. Derailing the talks is exactly what Hezbollah is attempting to attain.”
Netanyahu spokesman Doron Spielman instructed AFP that Israel needed new and extra formidable US-brokered talks with Lebanon following Saturday’s lethal assaults, which he asserted “ought to jumpstart the talks and make them rather more critical, not do the alternative.”
“And I believe it would. It’ll hopefully transfer these talks alongside as a result of the enemy right here is evident and the enemy is Hezbollah,” Spielman stated. “We imagine within the settlement. We very a lot hope that the Lebanese Armed Forces are going to have the ability to step into the foray, and collectively we’re going to take away Hezbollah from the image.”
Israel and Lebanon introduced a US-mediated framework settlement on June 26, six days after a precarious truce between Israel and Hezbollah went into impact.
The framework set out a plan for Israeli forces to withdraw from southern Lebanon in trade for Hezbollah’s disarmament and envisioned steps towards an eventual peace settlement between Israel and Lebanon, which technically stay in a state of struggle. Hezbollah was not a celebration to the settlement and has rejected requires it to disarm.
Hezbollah stated the Israeli strikes could be met with an “acceptable” response, urging authorities to halt “humiliating” negotiations with Israel.
