IDF kills second Hezbollah commander in weekend strikes in southern Lebanon

The Israeli military announced Sunday morning that it killed senior Hezbollah commander Abu Hassan Alaa during strikes in the Deir ez-Zahrani area of southern Lebanon over the weekend. Alaa was identified as a commander in Hezbollah's Bader Unit and was responsible for carrying out attacks against IDF soldiers operating in the region.

The military's announcement detailed that this strike occurred alongside other operations over the weekend targeting Hezbollah's headquarters in the Ansar area. In that earlier strike, Ali Samir Al-Haj Hassan, a battalion commander within Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force unit, was killed.

Both of these strikes were reportedly in response to an incident where three IDF soldiers sustained serious injuries over the weekend. However, the IDF also noted on Saturday that Hassan’s family was present inside the Hezbollah headquarters at the time of the strike against him.

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It should be emphasized that the family members were not the target of the strike. The strike was specifically directed at Hassan, who was a lawful target under international law. The terrorist used his family as human shields, hiding alongside them inside the military headquarters.

In a statement, the IDF emphasized that the family members were not the intended target, asserting that Hassan was a lawful target under international law. The military accused the terrorist commander of using his family as human shields by hiding among them inside the military compound.

The Prime Minister's Office corroborated this, stating that they were unaware of civilians being present in the Hezbollah military compound during the strike. They later learned that Hezbollah had deliberately placed civilians there, accusing the group of using its own citizens as human shields to falsely accuse Israel of deliberately targeting civilians, which the IDF maintains it did not do.

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Only later did the IDF learn that Hezbollah deliberately put civilians in that military compound. Hezbollah is willing to do anything, including using its own civilians as human shields, to falsely accuse Israel of deliberately targeting civilians, which the IDF clearly did not.