The Israel Air Force struck Hezbollah terrorists operating within a command center that was located inside a mosque.

 An IDF infographic showing a targeted Hezbollah command center embedded inside a mosque next to the Salah Ghandour Hospital. October 5, 2024. (photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)
An IDF infographic showing a targeted Hezbollah command center embedded inside a mosque next to the Salah Ghandour Hospital. October 5, 2024.
(photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON’S UNIT)
Approximately five rockets were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory early on Saturday morning, the IDF said.

The IDF Aerial Defense Array intercepted some of the rockets, while the rest fell in open areas, the military added. As a result, rocket sirens sounded in the area of Ha’Amakim in northern Israel.

Following these alerts, Israel’s emergency medical service, Magen David Adom, announced that MDA teams were on the way to sites of reported rocket and shrapnel crashes.

Walla later reported that the attack was estimated to have targeted the air force base in Ramat David. No casualties were reported.

IAF conducts strikes in southern Lebanon

Later on Saturday morning, the military said that the Israel Air Force struck Hezbollah terrorists operating within a command center that was located inside a mosque adjacent to the Salah Ghandour Hospital in southern Lebanon.

 Tanks operating in Lebanon, October 2, 2024 (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON UNIT)Enlrage image
Tanks operating in Lebanon, October 2, 2024 (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON UNIT)

Hezbollah terrorists used the command center to plan and execute terrorist attacks against soldiers and Israeli citizens, the IDF added.

The IDF reportedly sent notices to residents and held discussions with key figures in the villages before the strike.

Hezbollah utilizes hospitals in defiance of laws of armed conflict, the IDF said, noting that any military activity carried out from hospitals should be halted immediately.

“Since the beginning of the war, and even more so since the beginning of the limited ground activity in southern Lebanon, the IDF has been making great efforts to prevent harming uninvolved civilians and civilian infrastructure,” the IDF stated.

The military highlighted that these efforts stood in contrast to Hezbollah’s use of civilian structures, including critical infrastructure, to shield its military activities.

This is a developing story. 


 

A missile launcher found in a village in southern Lebanon, in a handout photo published by the IDF on October 4, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

A missile launcher found in a village in southern Lebanon, in a handout photo published by the IDF on October 4, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

Some 100 Hezbollah operatives have been killed during Israeli operations in southern Lebanon in the past day, according to IDF assessments.

The operatives were killed both in airstrikes and during fighting on the ground, the military says.

Nine Israeli soldiers were killed in several separate battles in southern Lebanon on Wednesday.

The IDF says it has also located dozens of weapons that Hezbollah left behind, during the operations in villages in southern Lebanon.

The military releases footage of anti-tank missile launchers, munitions and other weapons found in homes in a village in southern Lebanon by troops of the 188th Armored Brigade.


The IDF reportedly struck areas in southern Lebanon, including the Beirut area, as the IDF Arabic Spokesperson issued new evacuation orders.

 Smoke rises over Beirut's southern suburbs and their surroundings after strikes, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Sin El Fil, Lebanon October 3, 2024. (photo credit: REUTERS/Abdelaziz Boumzar)
Smoke rises over Beirut’s southern suburbs and their surroundings after strikes, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Sin El Fil, Lebanon October 3, 2024.
(photo credit: REUTERS/Abdelaziz Boumzar)
Israel allegedly tried to eliminate former Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah’s successor, Hashem Safieddine, in the Dahieh suburb in Beirut, Israeli media reported early on Friday, citing Lebanese reports. These reports could not be verified.

Safieddine, as head of Hezbollah’s executive council, oversees the group’s political affairs. He also sits on the Jihad Council, which manages the group’s military operations, Reuters reported. Safieddine is a cousin of Nasrallah and was designated as a terrorist by the US State Department in 2017.

Israeli and Arab media had previously reported that the IDF conducted strikes in the southern suburbs of Beirut. Reports noted that the military also attacked the area of Burj al-Shamali, east of Tyre, in southern Lebanon.

At least one Israeli strike early on Friday hit outside the perimeter of Beirut’s international airport, according to a source in Lebanon’s Ministry of Transport and Public Works.

IDF issues new evacuation warnings

These reports emerge following an evacuation warning issued by the IDF’s Arabic Spokesperson, which included warnings for certain areas of Beirut in Lebanon in a post to X (Twitter) on Thursday evening.

 

 

In the message, he called for residents located in specific areas of the Bourj el-Barajneh neighborhood to evacuate, as the IDF would operate against Hezbollah-affiliated facilities in the area. The warning stated to remain at least 500 meters away from these areas.

Reuters and Maariv contributed to this report.