Israel’s equivalent of the elite Navy SEALs stormed a beach in Lebanon over the weekend, snatched a nearby senior Hezbollah operative and then raced off with him in a speedboat, officials say.
The weekend operation involved commandos with the Israel Defense Force’s Shayetet 13 force, who were deployed along the coast in northern Lebanon and conducted the raid on a Hezbollah facility in Batroun, CNN reports.
The highly specialized soldiers rushed the beach to reach the terrorists’ hold and capture Imad Amhaz, throwing the suspected Hezbollah senior official into a speedboat and carting him off, according to the IDF.
Amhaz, who is believed to be a “significant source of knowledge” on Hezbollah’s naval force, was handed over to Israeli interrogators so they could try to get him to divulge details of the terror group’s maritime operations.
Hezbollah condemned Israel’s actions in Batroun but did not confirm if Amhaz was one of their operatives.
Ali Hamie, Lebanon’s minister of public works and transport, told local media that Amhaz was allegedly just a captain of civilian ships and a student at a civilian naval institute.
Along with the operation to capture Amhaz, the Shayetet 13 was also deployed in southern Lebanon to carry out a raid on an underground Hezbollah compound filled with weapons.
Together with other units of the IDF, the naval commandos killed several Hezbollah operatives hiding in the tunnel, where the troops discovered rocket launchers likely used to fire at northern Israel.
Along with the launchers, the soldiers found a plethora of assault rifles, explosive devices, anti-tank missiles, surface-to-air missiles, mortars and other military equipment, the IDF said.
After clearing the area of terrorists and seizing the weapons, the IDF demolished the entire compound, which was similar to other underground bunkers discovered across the southern border.
The Israeli military is ramping up its operations in Lebanon to end Hezbollah’s daily attacks over the border that began Oct. 8, 2023, in solidarity with Hamas.
Since Israel began its ground offensive across Lebanon’s border last month, IDF troops and airstrikes have killed about 2,000 Hezbollah operatives, the military estimates. The terror group’s top leadership has also been decimated in recent months, including with the death of longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Meanwhile, the terror group has upped its attacks on Israel, firing more than 100 rockets and drones every day, with several projectiles regularly managing to slip through the Jewish state’s defenses.
About 39 Israeli civilians have been killed by Hezbollah’s attacks since Oct. 8, 2023, along with 61 IDF soldiers and reservists, according to the Israeli military.
