Israel’s equivalent of elite Navy SEALs stormed a beach in Lebanon over the weekend, captured a senior Hezbollah official nearby, then fled with him in a speedboat, officials say .
The weekend operation involved commandos from the Israeli Defense Force’s Shayetet 13 force, who were deployed along the coast of northern Lebanon and carried out the raid on a Hezbollah facility in Batroun, reports CNN.
The highly specialized soldiers rushed down the beach to reach the terrorists’ hold and capture Imad Amhaz, throwing the suspected senior Hezbollah official into a speedboat and carrying him away, according to the Israeli military.
Amhaz, considered an “important source of knowledge” about Hezbollah’s naval force, was handed over to Israeli interrogators so they could try to get him to divulge details of the terrorist group’s maritime operations.
Hezbollah condemned Israel’s actions in Batroun but did not confirm whether Amhaz was one of its agents.
Ali Hamie, Lebanon’s minister of public works and transport, told local media that Amhaz was apparently just a captain of civilian ships and a student at a civilian naval institute.
Alongside the operation to capture Amhaz, Shayetet 13 was also deployed to southern Lebanon to carry out a raid on an underground Hezbollah compound stocked with weapons.
Along with other IDF units, the naval commandos killed several Hezbollah members hiding in the tunnel, where troops discovered rocket launchers likely used to fire on northern Israel.
In addition to the launchers, soldiers found a plethora of assault rifles, explosive devices, anti-tank missiles, surface-to-air missiles, mortars and other military equipment, the Israeli military said.
After clearing the area of terrorists and seizing the weapons, the IDF demolished the entire complex, which resembled other underground bunkers discovered across the southern border.
The Israeli army is intensifying its operations in Lebanon to end daily Hezbollah attacks on the border which began on October 8, 2023, in solidarity with Hamas.
Since Israel launched its ground offensive across the Lebanese border last month, IDF troops and airstrikes have killed around 2,000 Hezbollah members, according to military estimates. The terrorist group’s top leaders have also been decimated in recent months, notably with the death of their longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
At the same time, the terrorist group has intensified its attacks on Israel, firing more than 100 rockets and drones every day, with several projectiles regularly managing to slip through the Jewish state’s defenses.
Approximately 39 Israeli civilians have been killed by Hezbollah attacks since October 8, 2023, as well as 61 IDF soldiers and reservists, according to the Israeli military.
