The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) eliminated the commander of Hezbollah’s ‘Radwan Force’, who plotted the planned ‘Conquer the Galilee’ attack, an October 7-like terrorist incursion and massacre on Israel’s northern border.
Ahmed Ali Balout, commander of an Iranian-trained ‘Radwan Force’ unit, was killed in an Israeli strike on a Hezbollah stronghold in southern Beirut.
“Ahmed Ali Balout, who directed attacks on Israeli troops and rebuilt Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force, killed in Dahieh as Israel says it struck more than 180 Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon this week,” Israel’s Ynetnews reported Friday. “The IDF confirmed Thursday it killed Ahmed Ali Balout, commander of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force, in an airstrike a day earlier in the Dahieh district of Beirut.”
Ali Balout not only masterminded the ‘Conquer the Galilee’ attack, a plan set in motion years ahead of the Hamas-led October 7 massacre, but also directed deadly attacks on Israeli troops engaged in the current counter-terrorism operation in southern Lebanon.
“Throughout the war, and especially in recent months, Ali Balout directed ‘Radwan Force’ terrorists and commanded dozens of terror attacks against IDF soldiers operating in southern Lebanon, including anti-tank missile attacks and the detonation of explosive devices,” the Israeli military disclosed on Friday. “Balout also led the ‘Radwan Force’ Unit’s rehabilitation attempts, including advancing the ‘Conquer the Galilee’ Plan, which was planned and advanced by the unit for years.”
Following the IDF strike, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed there was no “immunity” for terrorists in the region.
“Last night, we eliminated in the heart of Beirut the commander of Hezbollah’s Radwan Force. This is the same senior terrorist who led the plan to conquer the north. He thought he could continue directing attacks on our forces and our communities from his hidden terror headquarters in Beirut,” he said in a brief Hebrew-language address posted on X. “I say to our enemies in the clearest possible way: No terrorist has immunity. To anyone who threatens the State of Israel, his blood shall be on his own head.”
With the war with the Iranian proxy terror group Hezbollah set to enter its 10th week, the Israeli ground troops were eliminating Shia-jihadist fighters and destroying terror infrastructure along the country’s northern border, IDF Chief of Staff, Lt. General Eyal Zamir, said while touring the battlefield in southern Lebanon.
“Your mission is to remove every threat to our communities and to our soldiers,” Lt. General Zamir told the frontline troops on Wednesday. “All of the IDF’s capabilities are at your disposal. Continue the mission to locate the enemy in the area and dismantling terror infrastructure.”
“Since the beginning of Operation Roaring Lion, more than 2,000 Hezbollah terrorists have been struck and eliminated,” he revealed. “We have a historic opportunity to change the regional reality in this multi-front operation.”
In past 24 hours alone, “the IDF struck a weapons production infrastructure and several structures used for military purposes by the Hezbollah terrorist organization in the area of Nabatieh,” and “overnight, pproximately 20 Hezbollah infrastructure sites were struck in southern Lebanon, including: weapons storage facilities, a UAV launch position, structures used to launch drones toward IDF soldiers, and a terrorist cell that transferred weapons using a truck,” the Israeli military said in a press release on Thursday.
“Over the past week, the IDF has struck more than 180 infrastructure sites belonging to the Hezbollah terror organization, including Hezbollah command centers, weapons storage facilities, and loaded and ready-to-use launchers in southern Lebanon,” the military revealed.
Sticking to their signature tactic, Hezbollah terrorists continue to hide behind Lebanese civilians while launching missiles and drones at the IDF. The Israeli armed forces undertake painstaking efforts to minimize civilian casualties.
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