A Lebanese military source cited by AFP confirmed the death of one person in an Israeli strike in Lebanon, but did not say whether it was Ismail al-Zein, presented by the Israeli army as a leader of the Lebanese pro-Iran armed movement.
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This announcement comes two days after that of the death of another Hezbollah official in an Israeli strike in Lebanon. A leader of the powerful Lebanese armed movement, which claims to support Hamas in its war against Israel in the Gaza Strip, was “eliminated” in a raid carried out in this same border region between the two countries, in southern Lebanon, Israeli forces assured Sunday March 31.
“An Air Force plane struck a vehicle in the Kounine region of Lebanon, in which Ismail al-Zein was traveling”the Israeli army said in a statement on Sunday, presenting him as the “commander of a unit (…) responsible for dozens of attacks” against the Jewish state.
In Beirut, a Lebanese military source cited by AFP affirmed for his part that“an Israeli drone targeted a car in the village of Kounin, killing one person who was in it,” but withouts provide details of their identity.
Daily strikes at the border
On Friday, the Israeli army announced that it had killed “Ali Abdel Hassan Naïm, the deputy commander of Hezbollah’s rocket and missile unit,” in a strike in Bazouriyé in southern Lebanon. A death confirmed this time by the armed group.
For almost six months, daily violence has pitted the Israeli army against Hezbollah on the Israeli-Lebanese border. The pro-Iranian armed group, which has an arsenal of rockets and precision missiles, targets Israeli military positions and localities near the border, while Israel responds with bombings on Lebanese territory, mainly in the South, notably carrying out targeted attacks against Hezbollah and Hamas officials.
Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas on October 7, at least 348 people have been killed in Lebanon, according to an AFP count. On the Israeli side, ten soldiers and eight civilians were killed in the fighting, according to the army.