Israel Strikes Lebanon: Jihad Islam Commander Among Dead

According to AFP, the attacks took place on Sunday (17/5). Lebanese authorities and state media confirmed the death of a Jihad Islam commander. These strikes occurred even as a fragile ceasefire remains in place, while Hezbollah has described the US-mediated negotiations between the two nations as a “deadlock.”

The Lebanese Ministry of Health released preliminary casualty figures following the Israeli strikes on Sunday, reporting three deaths in the town of Tayr Felsay, including a child, and two deaths in the town of Tayr Debba, also including a child.

The Ministry noted that 11 people were injured in these attacks, with an additional four people wounded in strikes targeting two other towns in southern Lebanon.

Subsequently, the official Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) reported that an Israeli missile strike around midnight hit an apartment on the outskirts of Baalbek in the eastern part of the country, killing Jihad Islam commander Wael Abdel Halim and his 17-year-old daughter.

Despite the ceasefire, Israel continues to launch widespread attacks in southern Lebanon, frequently issuing evacuation warnings to towns and villages in the southern region. Two Israeli strikes also hit the town of Sohmor in the Bekaa Valley, eastern Lebanon, on Sunday, according to the NNA.

The Israeli military subsequently issued evacuation warnings for four villages near the city of Sidon on the southern coast, located dozens of kilometres from the border region, which had also received warnings on Saturday. Israeli airstrikes hit three of those four villages after the warnings were issued, according to the NNA.