As the Operation Epic Fury entered its second month, the Israeli military dealt a heavy blow to the Iranian proxy terrorist group Hezbollah by taking out its senior-most commander in southern Lebanon.
“Hajj Yusuf Ismail Hashem, the Hezbollah’s Southern Front Commander,” was eliminated “in a precise strike conducted by the Israeli Navy,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced Wednesday.
The slain terrorist was one of the most experienced frontline Hezbollah commanders after Israel decimated the terrorist group’s top leadership in August 2024. He was regrouping and rearming the terrorist group on Israel’s northern border following the IDF’s ground offensive sixteen months ago.
“Hashem, a senior commander with over 40 years of experience and a central figure in the terrorist organization, began the role of Southern Front commander following the elimination of Ali Karaki, alongside Hassan Nasrallah, during Operation Northern Arrows,” the IDF disclosed. “Over the years, he was responsible for the “Nasser”, “Aziz”, and “Badr” units—units responsible for combat against IDF soldiers in southern Lebanon and launching rockets toward the State of Israel.”
Hezbollah’s “Southern Front,” led by Hashem, has been responsible for deadly rocket and drone attacks on civilians in cities and towns across northern Israel. “The ‘Southern Front’ is the unit within the Hezbollah terrorist organization responsible for carrying out terrorist activities targeting Israeli civilians and for combat operations against IDF soldiers in southern Lebanon,” the IDF explained.
Hezbollah suffered another blow, as a top terror operative of the Iran-based IRGC-Quds Force’s “Lebanon Corps” was killed in an Israeli airstrike in eastern Iran. Mahdi Vafaei, the head of Lebanon Corps’ engineering operations, was responsible for Hezbollah’s tunnel and underground terrorist infrastructure.
“Yesterday (Tuesday), the Israeli Air Force, acting on IDF Intelligence, struck and eliminated the engineer operative Mahdi Vafaei, Head of the Engineering Branch of the Quds Force’s Lebanon Corps, in the Mahallat area in Iran,” the Israeli military revealed. “Throughout his 20 years as the Head of the Engineering Branch of the Corps, Vafaei advanced underground projects across Lebanon and Syria.”
His “elimination degrades the Hezbollah terrorist organization’s capacity to develop underground infrastructure sites and undermines the Iranian terrorist regime’s efforts to advance and carry out terror attacks across the Middle East,” the IDF said.
After 31 days of the U.S.-Israeli joint operation, the allied armed forces had achieved significant breakthroughs against Iran and its terrorist proxies. “We continue to strike the enemy with great determination. Our achievements are accumulating into broad success,” the IDF’s chief spokesman, Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, said. “We are dismantling and targeting all of the systems of the Iranian terror regime and its proxies.”
The Israeli military targeted Hezbollah’s top leadership in the latest round of strikes. “Overnight, we struck senior commanders in the Hezbollah terrorist organization in the heart of Beirut,” the IDF spokesman revealed.
As people in Israel prepare to celebrate Passover, “[i]t is possible that the Iranian terror regime and the Hezbollah terrorist organization will fire toward Israeli territory in an attempt to harm Israeli civilians during the holiday,” warned.
The Israeli air defense systems, however, were ready to meet the threat. “[D]efensive systems are deployed and prepared to intercept threats across the country,” he assured.
Iran is calling for a ceasefire, President Donald Trump said on Wednesday.
“Iran’s New Regime President, much less Radicalized and far more intelligent than his predecessors, has just asked the United States of America for a CEASEFIRE!” President Trump wrote on Truth Social, in an apparent reference to Masoud Pezeshkian, who took office in July 2024.
The president declared that he will only consider a ceasefire once Tehran clears the Strait of Hormuz for oil and commercial shipping. “We will consider when the Hormuz Strait is open, free, and clear. Until then, we are blasting Iran into oblivion or, as they say, back to the Stone Ages!!!” he warned.
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