Jerusalem, April 19 (IANS) The Israeli military said Sunday it killed Hezbollah’s Bint Jbeil commander, Ali Rida Abbas, along with more than 150 members of the group in “pre-ceasefire strikes” during the 24 hours before a US-mediated truce took effect, media reports said.

The military said Abbas was the fourth Hezbollah commander for the Bint Jbeil area killed by Israel since October 2023. It described Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon as a key frontline area for Hezbollah attacks, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Abbas was considered one of the most senior officials in Hezbollah’s armed wing and had survived Israeli strikes on the group’s military leadership in 2024. There was no confirmation from Hezbollah.

Separately, the military said one soldier was killed, and nine others wounded “during combat” in southern Lebanon, where Israeli troops remain deployed despite the ceasefire.

Israel’s state-owned Kan TV reported the reservist was killed when a military bulldozer struck an explosive device planted by Hezbollah. The death marked the second Israeli military fatality since a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon took effect at midnight between Thursday and Friday local time (2100 GMT).

Since six weeks of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah began in early March 2026 amid the Iran war, 15 Israeli soldiers have been killed, according to military figures.

The military said it has killed about 1,800 Hezbollah members and struck 300 military infrastructure sites, including launchers, command centres, and weapons storage facilities across several areas in Lebanon.

Despite the ceasefire, the Israeli military said it “will continue to act to remove any threat to Israeli civilians and its soldiers.”

While lifting the wartime restriction on Lebanon, Israel’s Defence Minister, Israel Katz, said that disarming Hezbollah, whether through military or political means, remains a central objective of the campaign.

–IANS

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