BEIRUT/JERUSALEM, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Four people, including a Hezbollah military commander, were killed on Thursday in two separate Israeli drone strikes targeting vehicles in southern Lebanon, according to Lebanese sources.
One strike hit a vehicle in Yahmar al-Shaqif in the Nabatieh district, killing three people, Lebanon's Public Health Emergency Operations Center said in a statement.
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) said the Israeli artillery shelled the Dabsh area in Yahmar al-Shaqif, with six shells landing in the targeted area.
A Lebanese security source told Xinhua that the strike was made by an Israeli drone, as it launched multiple missiles at a civilian vehicle on the eastern outskirts of Yahmar al-Shaqif.
The Lebanese Red Cross transported the bodies to a hospital in Nabatieh, the source said.
For the other strike, the NNA said an Israeli drone launched a guided missile at a vehicle in Maaroub in the Tyre district, killing one person and injuring another.
The security source told Xinhua the drone "fired an air-to-ground missile at a civilian vehicle" in Maaroub, setting the vehicle on fire.
The source identified the dead as Hassan Naamah Sabra, a Hezbollah military commander from the town of Al-Qantara in southern Lebanon, adding that his body was transported by civil defense teams to a hospital in Tyre.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said in a statement that the Israeli Air Force "struck and eliminated" Ahmad Adnan Bajjiga, a battalion commander in Hezbollah's Radwan Force, in an overnight attack on the southern Lebanese town of Derdghaiya.
The military accused Bajjiga of advancing and directing "numerous" attacks against Israeli civilians and troops, including during the past months, adding that it will "continue to operate" to "remove any threat" posed to Israel.
So far, there has been no reports or confirmation from the Lebanese side concerning the Israeli claim.
Since Nov. 27, 2024, a U.S. and French-brokered ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel has been in place, ending over a year of hostilities triggered by the war in the Gaza Strip.
Despite the agreement, which requires Israel to withdraw from Lebanese territory, Israeli forces have maintained positions at five key locations along the border beyond the Feb. 18 deadline.
The Israeli military continues to launch intermittent strikes in Lebanon, under repeated claims that such attacks aim to eliminate "threats posed by Hezbollah." ■
