BEIRUT: Hezbollah mourned two of its members on Wednesday, the 228th day of confrontations between the group and the Israeli army in southern Lebanon.
The total number of Hezbollah fatalities, along with its affiliated medics and members of its ally, the Amal Movement, has reached 330.
Confrontations continued between the two sides through airstrikes, with both sides employing combat drones in addition to conventional warfare methods.
Israeli combat drones raided the towns of Mays Al-Jabal and an area between the towns of Alma Al-Shaab and Dhayra. Two missiles fired by an Israeli combat drone targeted the town of Aita Al-Shaab.
Israeli artillery shelled the town of Markaba, causing a large fire that civil defense teams worked to extinguish.
The town of Hula was also subjected to Israeli artillery shelling, as were the outskirts of the towns of Tayr Harfa and Alma Al-Shaab.
The two Hezbollah members were killed on Tuesday night in an airstrike by an Israeli drone that targeted the town of Odaisseh; Mohammed Ali Bou Taam (born in 2000) from the town of Taybeh in southern Lebanon, and Ali Hassan Sultan (born in 1991) from the town of Souaneh in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah targeted several Israeli military sites, including the Ramim barracks, with Burkan missiles, and the Al-Sadah site, and said in a statement that it “directly hit it with artillery shells.”
Brig. Gen. Mounir Shehadeh, the former Lebanese government coordinator to UNIFIL and former head of the military court, said that the escalation on the southern front carried two messages from Hezbollah. The first, he said, was “a response to the repeated threats from Israeli officials to launch a major military operation in southern Lebanon to push Hezbollah to withdraw to the north of the Litani Line. The second message is that the party is ready to escalate if Israel decides to enter Rafah and commit more massacres.”
Shehadeh said that Hezbollah was using new tactics and weapons. He said that targeting the newly established Israeli military sites was an indication of the capabilities it possessed, especially in intelligence and reconnaissance. He added that repeatedly targeting the Meron base and downing two balloons had caused Israel to lose control and air superiority over the northern front, especially as Hezbollah said that it has so far used only 20 percent of its qualitative capabilities.
The Israeli army has rigged combat drones; on Tuesday, a small drone launched by the Israeli army exploded in the direction of a house in the town of Naqoura.
Meanwhile, Israeli Channel 12 website noted “an increase in the use of drones by Hezbollah,” considering that “its lethal capability has increased.”
The website reported that a study conducted by the Alma Center, which specializes in researching the security challenges facing Israel in the north, stated that “24 incidents of drones entering Israeli airspace occurred in March, the number increased to 42 incidents in April, and 20 incidents were recorded in May.”
The website quoted officials at Alma Center as saying: “There is a difficulty related to the way drones fly toward the target.”
Tal Barry, director of research at Alma Center, told Channel 12 that “Hezbollah is using the current battle to evaluate the offensive and defensive capabilities of the Israeli army, and also to compare its capabilities with those of the Israeli army.”
Amid the tension on the southern front and increasing protests by Israeli settlers who were evacuated from settlements in the north, a video spread across Israeli websites, shared on social media, showing an Israeli man appearing on Israeli Channel 12. In the video, the man calls what he claimed to be Caesars Park Hotel (in Beirut), demanding evacuation for himself and thousands of Israelis.
The Israeli caller, speaking in Arabic, asked the person who answered from the hotel: “I am calling from Israel. There are 30, 40, 50 thousand people who need to come to Beirut because of Hezbollah, Hamas and Iran. Do you have any available space?”
The hotel employee responded with surprise, “Where are you from?” The Israeli caller answered in Arabic, “We are from Israel, we are 50, 60 thousand people, we want to come to Beirut to your hotel.” The employee angrily replied, “Go to hell,” and hung up.
The Lebanese hotel employee’s response angered the Israeli caller, who insulted the person on air.
Arab News contacted the hotel on Hamra Street in Beirut to confirm the Israeli call. A hotel source confirmed that the call was received by the employee “through the landline.”
The Israeli caller claimed on the Israeli TV channel that he had previously visited Beirut and stayed at the hotel, but the hotel source strongly denied this.
This Israeli infiltration via phone call was preceded by a similar infiltration at the start of the confrontations. Israelis used the Lebanese phone network to contact dozens of southerners who had evacuated their homes in border regions, inquiring whether they were in their residences or had abandoned them, pretending to be from financial institutions or relief associations. It was later revealed that based on people’s responses, the Israeli side was tracking the movement of Hezbollah members in order to demolish their homes.
The Secretary-General of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah revealed these communications and urged people to avoid using the Internet in the border region and to remove external surveillance cameras from homes because of Israeli infiltration. The Israeli army managed to kill a significant number of Hezbollah members by this method.
Drone war continues in southern Lebanon, Burkan missiles target Israeli sites
https://arab.news/cty2k
Drone war continues in southern Lebanon, Burkan missiles target Israeli sites
- Israeli hacks Lebanese phone network to book hotel in Beirut for 50,000 settlers ‘displaced by Hezbollah, Hamas and Iran’
- Israeli combat drones raided the towns of Mays Al-Jabal and an area between the towns of Alma Al-Shaab and Dhayra
US Embassy resumes mechanism meetings ‘at full capacity’
- Next meeting is scheduled for Feb. 25, settling debate in Lebanon over committee’s fate after postponement of January session
- Beirut hopes resumption will allow US to press Israel for concessions in return for commitments to ceasefire security terms
BEIRUT: The US Embassy in Beirut said on Friday that the mechanism committee will meet on Feb. 25 to discuss next steps on Lebanon’s security.
The US-led five-member committee was established in the wake of the Israel-Hezbollah war in late 2024.
In a statement issued jointly with US Central Command, the embassy said that “the military coordination framework, as established in the cessation of hostilities agreement outlined on Nov. 27, 2024, remains fully in place and is operating at full capacity, with the same goals, participants and leadership.”
The embassy also listed upcoming meetings dates for March 25, April 22 and May 20, saying “these engagements will continue to serve as the primary forum for military coordination among the participating parties,” and adding that the mechanism will remain the key platform for such coordination.
A committee meeting had been tentatively scheduled for Feb. 18, but the participating parties did not receive official confirmation from the US.
A Lebanese official told Arab News that the Feb. 25 meeting would be limited to military personnel, with no civilian participation. “The US Embassy’s statement emphasized the participation of all parties, including the French side,” the source added.
The mechanism committee meetings constitute the only approved channel of communication for addressing military issues related to the cessation of hostilities between Lebanon and Israel.
The embassy’s announcement settled the debate in Lebanon over the committee’s fate after the postponement of a meeting scheduled for this month, amid Israeli pressure on Lebanon to convert civil negotiations into bilateral talks with US participation.
A Lebanese official closely following the work conducted by the mechanism committee previously told Arab News that there was “a structural crisis within the mechanism committee, specifically within the US delegation.”
The mechanism committee has held a series of meetings at the Ras Al-Naqoura border crossing. These meetings were described as technical and military in nature, and focused on establishing field communication mechanisms, addressing issues arising from violations, and ensuring continued coordination in line with the terms of the signed agreement. Civilian representatives from Lebanon and Israel were later added to the committee’s meetings.
At the beginning of December, Lebanon appointed former ambassador Simon Karam to head the Lebanese delegation to the Military Technical Committee for Lebanon. Karam attended meetings on two occasions, Dec. 3 and 19, during which he highlighted Lebanon’s demand that displaced residents be allowed to return to border villages as a prerequisite for discussing any economic buffer zone. A meeting scheduled for Jan. 14 was later postponed.
The Lebanese state hopes that the resumption of the mechanism’s meetings will enable the US to secure concessions from Israel in exchange for its commitment to the terms of the agreement to cease military operations, including the withdrawal from positions Israel still occupies inside Lebanese territory.
According to the official source, Lebanon is seeking through this request “to facilitate the next stages of the process of establishing the state monopoly on arms, particularly north of the Litani River.” The source said this followed the Lebanese army’s confiscation of illegal weapons south of the Litani, a step the US welcomed, while Hezbollah has refused to disarm north of the Litani line.
Another official source familiar with previous mechanism committee meetings said that “the Lebanese side stated that Israeli army violations on Lebanese territory provide Hezbollah with a justification to commit to its refusal to surrender its weapons.”
Lebanese army commander Gen. Rodolphe Haykal is scheduled to visit Washington next week, and will present to the Council of Ministers on Feb. 5 the next stages of the army’s plan to confine weapons between the Litani and Awali rivers.
According to the media office at the Presidential Palace, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Gen. Haykal reviewed on Friday the latest security developments in the south, amid repeated Israeli strikes and potential escalation risks along the border.
They also discussed Gen. Haykal’s meetings with US officials to “look into ways to support the army and coordinate on security issues at the border.”
Haykal also met Maj. Gen. Patrick Gauchat, head of mission and chief of staff of the UN Truce Supervision Organization at the command’s headquarters.
On Friday, an Israeli drone strike targeted a car in Seddiqin, Tyre, killing Mohammed Ahmad Youssef, the Lebanese Ministry of Health said.
Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee claimed that the strike was carried out in response to “Hezbollah violations,” accusing the party of “rebuilding itself.”
Israeli reconnaissance aircraft continued to fly over Beirut and its southern suburb throughout the day, in what Lebanon considered a violation of its airspace.
Meanwhile, the Lebanese army conducted armored patrols in the border town of Yaroun on Friday morning, after the Israeli army entered the town on Thursday night.
