In a daring raid, Israeli special forces on Friday morning allegedly captured a senior Hezbollah terror commander from a remote coastal town in northern Lebanon.
The terrorist, identified by Lebanese media as Imad Amhaz, chief of Hezbollah’s naval operations, was picked by Israeli commandos from the town of Batroun, some 100 miles into the terrorist-held hostile territory.
“Israeli naval commandos have seized a trainee mariner a military official described as a “senior operative” of Hezbollah in a raid in Lebanon and brought him to Israel for questioning,” the France24 TV channel reported Saturday. “It identified the person seized as Imad Amhaz.”
An unverified CCTV footage posted on X shows a team of commandos whisking away a blindfolded man. They are seen walking in a tactical formation equipped with rifles and night vision glasses.
Amhaz, who oversaw Hezbollah’s maritime terrorist operations, was apparently fond of masquerading in a naval officer’s uniform. In recent years, the Iran-backed terrorist group has repeatedly threatened to attack Israel’s off-shore gas drills.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) did not comment on the covert operation but acknowledged that a “senior operative of Hezbollah, who serves as an expert in his field, was apprehended.” Without naming the captured terrorist, the IDF disclosed that he “has been transferred to Israeli territory and is currently being investigated.”
The marine commandos of the Israeli military’s Shayetet 13 elite unit reportedly ventured into a Hezbollah compound and captured the wanted terrorist in a bold sea-to-land operation.
“The Shayetet 13 commandos arrived from the sea and raided a chalet on the coast of Batroun, south of Tripoli. Amhaz was taken from the building by the commandos, and they left the area using speedboats,” The Times of Israel reported Saturday, citing Lebanese media. “He is now being questioned by the Military Intelligence Directorate’s Unit 504, which specializes in HUMINT, or human intelligence,” the news website added.
The Lebanese government, having harbored the terror group Hezbollah for decades, was outraged over the alleged capture of the senior terrorist and filed a complaint to the United Nations. “The raid has prompted anger from Lebanese authorities, with the office for Prime Minister Najib Mikati saying he had instructed the foreign ministry to submit a complaint to the UN Security Council,” the BBC reported Saturday.
The UN’s Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), the so-called peacekeeping force, also sprung into action and opened an investigation. “It added the Lebanese army and UN peacekeeping force Unifil were both investigating the raid – and that Mikati had called for “expedited” results,” the UK broadcaster added.
The UNIFIL watched idly by as Hezbollah built up its terrorist infrastructure along Israel’s northern border — often in full view of its military observers. According to terrorists captured by the IDF in southern Lebanon, Hezbollah even “paid UNIFIL to use their outposts against Israel and even using their surveillance cameras.,” the newspaper Israel Hayom reported on October 21.
Apart from targeting Hezbollah’s leadership, the IDF is carrying out ground operations against the terrorist group in southern Lebanon. “IDF troops continue operational activity in southern Lebanon. The IDF eliminated Radwan Forces and additional Hezbollah terrorists in aerial strikes and close-quarters combat,” the military said Saturday. “Furthermore, the troops located large amounts of Hezbollah weaponry.”
Israeli fighter jets “struck and eliminated the terrorist Farouk Amin Alasi, the Hezbollah commander of the Khiam area,” the IDF said Saturday. “Alasi was responsible for the execution of many anti-tank missile and rocket attacks toward Israeli communities in the Galilee Panhandle, and especially Metula.”
“Additionally, the IDF eliminated the terrorist Yousef Ahmad Nun, a Radwan Forces company commander in the Khiam area who was responsible for rocket and anti-tank missile attacks toward Israeli communities in the Galilee area and IDF troops operating in the area,” the IDF added.
Israeli military also carried out operations against the terror group Hamas in Gaza. “IDF troops are continuing operational activity in the central and southern Gaza Strip, locating weaponry and eliminating terrorist cells,” the IDF disclosed Saturday. “Over the past day, the troops dismantled weapons storage facilities and eliminated terrorists that posed a threat to the troops.”
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