IDF kills Hezbollah aerial force commander in targeted strike
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that the fight against the Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon would continue until the objective of returning Israelis to their homes in the north safely, is met. The prime minister spoke to reporters upon landing in New York before his address to the UN General Assembly on Friday.
He said he approved the targeted strike on Beirut's Dahieh, a Hezbollah stronghold, that killed the terror group's head of aerial forces, Mohammed Srror, responsible for its drones, cruise missiles and gliders.
According to Lebanese media, three missiles attacked a 10-story building located near the site of a previous strike that killed Hezbollah's senior military commander Ibrahim Aqil last week.
Sources close to the negotiations said the prime minister backed away from "quiet understandings" reached earlier that he would accept the international efforts to stop the fighting.
The United States and France along with other European nations, were pressing for a cease-fire in the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. A 21-day truce was said to be imminent earlier on Thursday, but Netanyahu's office said in a statement while the prime minister was still en route to New York, claiming he had not agreed to any lull in the fighting.
Lebanon's LBCI Network said Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer informed U.S. special envoy Amos Hochstein that Israel would continue the war on Hezbollah and would reject the proposed cease-fire. According to the report, the U.S. and France would continue discussions with Israel while Qatar and Turkey were speaking with senior Iranian officials to reach some agreement.
IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said earlier that the military had waited a long time for this opportunity to hit Hezbollah. He said strikes should continue and that the forces have succeeded thus far in eliminating the terror group's leadership, disrupting its arms supplies and diminishing its military capabilities.