JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli army said on Sunday that it had killed another high-ranking Hezbollah officer in an airstrike.
The army said it had killed Nabil Kaouk, the number two of Hezbollah's Central Council, in a bombing the day before. The political and military group did not comment.
Several Hezbollah commanders have died in Israeli attacks in recent weeks, including the group's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, who died on Friday in Beirut. Hezbollah confirmed on Sunday the death of another commander, Ali Karaki, in the attack that killed Nasrallah.
The group has also been the target of a sophisticated attack against their beepers and walkie-talkies, and in the past week, Israel has carried out rounds of airstrikes across much of Lebanon. Hezbollah has continued to launch hundreds of rockets and missiles towards northern Israel, but most of them have been intercepted or have landed in open areas.
Kaouk was a veteran member of Hezbollah since the 1980s, and had served as the group's military commander in southern Lebanon. The United States imposed sanctions against him in 2020. Hezbollah had not confirmed his death at that time.
Meanwhile, the number of people displaced by the conflict in southern Lebanon has more than doubled to exceed 211,000 people, according to the United Nations.
More than 700 people have died in Lebanon since September 23, when Israel intensified its attacks in different parts of the country and forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes in southern Lebanon, the eastern Bekaa Valley, and a southern suburb of Beirut known as Dahiyeh.
Hezbollah and Israel exchange fire almost daily since the war between Israel and Hamas began after the attack led by the Palestinian armed group in Israel on October 7, fueling fears of a regional war.
Eleven people died in another Israeli bombing in Al-Ain, a village in the northeast of the country, as indicated by the Lebanese state news agency. Six of the bodies were recovered from the rubble and efforts to extract the other five were ongoing, the agency noted.
In southern Lebanon, the Islamic Scouts Association Risala stated that five of its members had died while carrying out their duties. Four of the deceased men were from the southern town of Tayr Debba, while the fifth was from the nearby town of Kabrikha.
The Israeli army said it was carrying out attacks against targets of the political and military group in Lebanon.