Israel says kills three Hezbollah commanders, some 70 fighters in 48 hours

Israel’s military said it had killed three Hezbollah commanders and some 70 fighters in southern Lebanon in the past 48 hours, a day after confirming it had killed Hashem Safieddine, the militant group’s heir apparent leader. “In southern Lebanon, IDF troops continue conducting limited, localised, targeted raids against Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure and operatives,” the Israel Defense Force (IDF) said in a statement. “Over the past day, the troops eliminated approximately 70 terrorists in ground and aerial strikes,” it said. Israel expanded its evacuation warnings to several central neighborhoods in the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre on Wednesday, ordering people to evacuate north out of the city. Israel has been carrying out an escalating offensive in Lebanon after a year of border clashes with Hezbollah, the most formidably armed of Iran’s proxy forces across the Middle East. Israel’s offensive has driven at least 1.2 million Lebanese from their homes and killed 2,530 people, including at least 63 over the past 24 hours, the Lebanese government said on Tuesday. On Tuesday, the IDF said it had confirmed the killing of Hashem Safieddine, the heir apparent to its leader Hassan Nasrallah who was killed in an Israeli attack last month. The military said Safieddine was killed in a strike carried out three weeks ago in Beirut’s southern suburbs, its first confirmation of his death. Earlier this month, Israel said he had probably been eliminated.

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