Israel vows to go after Hezbollah as it names another killed

BEIRUT

First aid responders search the site of an Israeli air strike that targeted a village in southern Lebanon.

Israel on Aug. 16 vowed it would hit Hezbollah again if threatened, as it identified what it described as a commander killed in strikes a day earlier that also left several children dead.

Israeli strikes on Aug. 15 killed 11 people in southern Lebanon, according to authorities, in the deadliest attacks since a deal was reached in June aimed at ending hostilities.

Israel said the strikes were a response to Hezbollah setting off explosive drones inside a so-called “security zone” in southern Lebanon, seriously injuring three Israeli troops including an officer.

“No score will be left unsettled in any arena. We’ll defend our soldiers and our civilians with full power,” Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote on X.

The Israeli military identified one of those killed on Aug. 15 as Abu Hassan Alaa, saying he was a senior commander of Hezbollah’s Badr unit who had been involved in firing drones at Israeli troops.

Israel earlier said that the strike killed a commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force, Ali Samir Al-Haj Hassan.

The Israeli military acknowledged that Hassan’s family was present but defended the strike by saying they were not the target.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said a “whole family” had been killed in the strike in the village of Ansar, with Lebanon’s health ministry reporting that three children and two women died.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office accused Hezbollah of deliberately placing civilians in harm’s way.

Meanwhile, Hamas political chief Khalil al-Hayya was set to travel to Cairo on Aug. 15 evening for talks with Egyptian official, ahead of a visit by U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy Jared Kushner to the region.

Kushner will visit Israel and Egypt next week in hopes of bridging gaps on a Gaza plan rejected by Netanyahu and will be accompanied by Nickolay Mladenov, the high representative for Gaza of Trump’s
so-called Board of Peace tasked with implementing the deal.