The IDF on Friday morning killed the deputy commander of Hezbollah's rocket and missile unit, Ali Abdulhassan Na'im, in a drone attack on his vehicle in the area of Bazouriye in the Tyre Governorate of Lebanon.
Footage from the scene shows the vehicle in which the senior member of the Shiite terrorist organization was riding going up in flames shortly after the airstrike. Additional artillery attacks are reported on villages in southern Lebanon.
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Deputy commander of Hezbollah's rocket and missile unit, Ali Abdulhassan Na'im, in a drone attack on his vehicle
(Photos: IDF Spokespersons Unit)
The IDF said after the assassination that Na'im "was considered to be a significant source of knowledge in the terrorist organization and leader in the field of rockets. He was also one of the leaders for heavy-warhead rocket fire and responsible for conducting and planning attacks against Israeli civilians."
The assassination of the deputy commander of Hezbollah's rocket and missile unit
(Video: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
Following the attacks, rocket alert sirens sounded in northern Israel border communities.
The Israel Defense Forces has carried out several attacks on southern Lebanon in recent days that target Hezbollah terrorists and the terror group's infrastructure.
Overnight, Syrian media reported that 42 people were killed and dozens more were injured in an attack attributed to Israel in the area of the city of Aleppo. The attack reportedly targeted Hezbollah's headquarters and weapons depots of pro-Iranian militias near Aleppo International Airport. The Reuters news agency reported that six of the fatalities were Hezbollah operatives.
Arab documentation of artillery attacks in southern Lebanon
The Syrian Ministry of Defense claimed that Israel attacked several points in the countryside of Aleppo. According to the ministry, the Israeli attack was carried out together with a UAV attack by local terrorist organizations and resulted in the death and injury of a number of civilians and military personnel, and material damage. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition organization to the Assad regime operating from London, reported that Syrian air defense systems were activated but the rockets reached their destination.
According to sources for the Qatari Al-Araby Al-Jadeed news organization, the attack in Syria was carried out with rockets carrying explosive material aimed at a building that served as Hezbollah's headquarters in the area east of the airport in Aleppo, where there are also weapons warehouses belonging to the pro-Iranian militias. According to the sources, one of the Syrian air defense missiles fell near one of the villages near Jabrin and caused a fire. It is not yet clear whether some of the victims were hit by the fall of the Syrian missile.
Earlier, the Kol HaBira news website, which is affiliated with the Syrian opposition, reported that the attack was also aimed at factories in the As-Safirah area near Aleppo. The Saudi TV channel Al-Hadth reported from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that there were three explosions in the area of the airport. Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese network Al Mayadeen reported that air defenses were activated in the area.
Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that an officer in the Assad regime's army with the rank of lieutenant general (equivalent to a lieutenant colonel), who is close to Hezbollah, was killed by an explosive device in his car in the countryside of Damascus.
According to the report, the victim was an engineer in the field of mines and explosives and was also responsible for coordinating with Hezbollah and the pro-Iranian militias in southwest Damascus, on the Lebanon-Syria border and the border with the Golan in the Quneitra area.
First published: 11:46, 03.29.24