Hezbollah drone seriously wounds 3 IDF troops; Radwan commander killed in response

On Saturday morning, an explosion from a Hezbollah drone seriously injured three IDF troops near Ali Taher ridge in southern Lebanon. The troops, from the Yahalom combat engineering unit, were an officer and two soldiers, all from the Yahalom combat engineering unit. According to the IDF, this attack violated the ceasefire and targeted soldiers in the security zone protecting Israeli communities.

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) informed the public of the incident, which occurred around 2:30 a.m. on the Sabbath. The PMO emphasized that the Hezbollah attack seriously wounded the soldiers and that the IDF responded by striking the Hezbollah terror headquarters which ordered the attack. The wounded soldiers were subsequently evacuated to Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, where two remained in serious condition, and the third in a moderate condition.

Immediately following the PMO statement, the IDF announced that its retaliatory strikes had killed Ali Hassan, a battalion commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force, at a central Hezbollah headquarters in Ansar. The military stated that Hassan's family was inside the military headquarters during the strike and was reportedly also hit.

The IDF clarified that their strike was specifically directed at Hassan, who was a lawful target under international law, and that they did not intend to harm civilians. The IDF added that Lebanon’s Health Ministry reported 11 deaths and 19 injuries in Israeli strikes, including civilian casualties. Lebanon’s PMO claimed Israel had deliberately targeted civilians by placing them in the military compound, a claim the IDF refuted, stating that such an action was not their intention and that Hezbollah had used civilians as human shields.

Israel’s state spokesman stated that the unusual statement during the Sabbath was due to the harsh reaction in Lebanon and the need to clarify the circumstances of the attack. Israeli officials expressed a desire for more serious negotiations following the incident. Hezbollah condemned the Israeli strikes as a "brutal massacre" against civilians and accused Netanyahu of escalating the war for domestic political reasons.

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michael Issa suggested that if Hezbollah handed over its weapons, all attacks would cease. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the strikes, describing them as a "clear message regarding the negotiation process and the American efforts aimed at implementing the agreement." Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam rejected Israel’s claim that the strikes targeted military infrastructure, asserting that responsibility for dealing with military structures in Lebanon rested with the Lebanese state.

Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., Yechiel Leiter, affirmed that Hezbollah had attacked IDF troops in violation of the ceasefire, emphasizing that the commander killed used his family as human shields. The U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, backed the Israeli account, labeling Hezbollah as "pure evil" for deliberately placing children in the military area.

The escalation in tensions is attributed to the strategic significance of the Ali Taher ridge, which has been a point of contention between Lebanon and Israel.