BEIRUT: Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to act with the UN to put pressure on Israel to disclose the fate of a Lebanese citizen abducted by the Israeli army early on Monday.

Israelis reportedly crossed into Lebanese territory, entering the town of Habbariyeh in the Hasbaya District, and abducted the citizen from his home.

This incursion and abduction is the first of its kind since the cessation of hostilities between the countries.

Meanwhile, Israel continued its airstrikes on Monday, killing three people, including a 4-year-old child, when a civilian vehicle was targeted.

A sniper also shot another person in the border town of Ayta ash Shab, who reportedly later died.

Atwi Atwi was the man added to the list of Lebanese prisoners in Israel, bringing the total to 24. Three of the prisoners were captured before the last Israeli war on Lebanon.

An Israeli force from the 210th Brigade in the Mount Dov area reportedly infiltrated from the Ruwaisat Al-Alam outpost toward Sadanah Hill, traveling on foot for about an hour before reaching a house on the outskirts of Habbariyeh.

The soldiers stormed the house and handcuffed Atwi’s wife. Atwi, 65, attempted to resist but was captured and taken toward Israeli border positions.

The abducted official was the former mayor of Habbariyeh and the head of the Islamic Group in Hasbaya and Marjeyoun, an ally of Iran-backed Hezbollah in its recent war. He works in social and humanitarian affairs in the area, according to several residents.

An Israeli army statement confirmed Atwi’s abduction in a “nighttime operation” which had been formulated on intelligence information gathered in recent weeks. The statement added that he was transferred to Israel for interrogation and that weapons were found inside the building.

The statement also affirmed that the Israeli army would continue its operations to eliminate “threats on the northern front.”

The Israeli escalation came a day after Salam’s visit to the border region, which left residents in the south with the impression that “the state stands with them.”

In a statement issued on Monday, Salam said that “the incident constitutes a blatant assault on Lebanon’s sovereignty, a violation of the declaration of cessation of hostilities, and a flagrant breach of international law.”

He stressed that “it will remain a national priority, and the state will follow up on it through all diplomatic and legal channels in place.”

The local municipality convened a meeting with a delegation from the UN Interim Force in Lebanon to brief it on the incident, and residents of the area of the abduction organized a protest expressing their fear that “Israeli practices prevalent in the 1970s could return, when Israeli soldiers used to infiltrate deep into populated areas.”

Bassam Hammoud, deputy head of the political bureau of the Islamic Group in Lebanon, said that the group was “committed to the decisions of the Lebanese state and to what has been approved under the cessation of hostilities agreement.”

Hammoud added: “We have taken no actions outside the framework of this agreement, whether military, field-based, or otherwise. And even if they found a rifle inside the house (belonging to Atwi), so what? Is there any Lebanese home that does not have a rifle inside?”

The Islamic Group issued a statement which held “the Israeli occupation fully responsible for any harm that may befall the abducted individual.”

Meanwhile, the Israeli army said that it had targeted a civilian vehicle near the town of Yanouh, describing the attack as “an airstrike to assassinate Hezbollah’s Head of Artillery Ahmad Ali Salami, in (the) Yanouh area.”

The Israeli army said in a statement: “Ahmad carried out numerous terror attacks throughout the war against IDF troops and Israel, and recently operated to rehabilitate Hezbollah’s artillery capabilities from within the civilian population in Lebanon, in violation of the ceasefire understandings.”

The airstrike killed Salami, 4-year-old Ali Hassan Jaber and his father Hassan.

Lebanese Interior Minister Ahmad Al-Hajjar condemned the attack, noting that Hassan Jaber was “a member of the Internal Security Forces who was killed while passing by with his son near the site targeted by the Israeli airstrike in the town of Yanouh.”

Al-Hajjar also condemned the abduction of Atwi from his home, describing the act as “an unacceptable transgression and a flagrant violation of Lebanese sovereignty and security.”

The Israeli army claimed that it was “aware of allegations indicating that uninvolved civilians had fallen as a result of the strike,” explaining that, prior to carrying it out, “measures were taken aimed at limiting subsequent harm to civilians, including the use of precision munitions and the conduct of aerial surveillance, and it regrets any harm that befell uninvolved civilians.”

It added: “The Israeli army is working to reduce damage as much as possible, and the incident is under review.”