Hezbollah commanders killed in airstrikes, ‘majority’ of weapons sites in Beirut’s Dahieh destroyed

JERUSALEM: Three Hezbollah field commanders have been killed in Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces confirmed on Wednesday. The announcement came on the heels of the army’s disclosure on Tuesday night that a majority of the terror group’s weapons storage and production facilities in Beirut’s Dahieh district have been destroyed.

The targeted strikes “further degrade Hezbollah’s capability to carry out terror attacks from southern Lebanon against Israeli civilians on the northern border”, the army said.

The IDF said Ayman Muhammad Nabulsi, the incoming commander of Hezbollah’s ‘Nasser’ Unit’s anti-tank missile array in the southern Lebanese area of Hajir was killed on Sunday. Also confirmed killed in a recent strike was Hajj Ali Yussef Salah, who served as the Hezbollah commander of the Tebnit area along with another commander of the Ghajar area.

The army also confirmed the elimination of Muhammad Musa Salah, Hezbollah’s commander of the Khiam area in October. Salah was responsible for the launches of more than 2,500 rockets at northern Israel and at Israeli forces in southern Lebanon.

Meanwhile, the IDF also announced on Tuesday night that airstrikes destroyed “a majority” of Hezbollah’s weapons storage and missile manufacturing facilities located under the Dahieh district” of Beirut. Dahieh is a Shi’ite stronghold in the southern area of Lebanon’s capital city.

“Over the past 20 years, the Hezbollah terrorist organization has established dozens of weapons production sites and storage facilities in the heart of the Dahieh district, the organization’s governing stronghold. These sites, systematically concealed beneath civilian buildings, have produced and stored hundreds of missiles and rockets intended to inflict significant harm on the State of Israel,” the statement said.

One of the primary sites was beneath a complex of five residential buildings housing about 50 families and located approximately 85 meters from a school. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed the existence of the facility in a speech at the United Nations in 2020.

“This site was intended to produce various weapon components, including long-range precision missiles capable of striking anywhere in Israel. These missiles are a central element of Hezbollah’s precision missile project, funded by Iran”, the army said. “This method of Hezbollah directly endangers the residents of Beirut, as large quantities of explosives are hidden beneath civilians, often without their knowledge,” the statement added.

“This phenomenon was starkly demonstrated in the massive explosion at the Port of Beirut on August 4th, 2020, which occurred due to the storage of 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, a component used in Hezbollah’s weapon production process. The ammonium was deliberately stored at the port, leading to a devastating explosion that resulted in the deaths of approximately 190 civilians and injuries to thousands more.”

After the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, Hezbollah began launching rockets and launching drones at northern Israel communities daily. More than 68,000 residents of northern Israel are displaced from their homes. Hezbollah leaders have repeatedly said they would continue the attacks to prevent Israelis from returning to their homes.

At least 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 97 remaining hostages, more than 30 have been declared dead. Hamas has also been holding captive two Israeli civilians since 2014 and 2015, and the bodies of two soldiers killed in 2014. (ANI/TPS)