An explosion takes place as Israeli strikes hit southern Lebanon, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Zibqin, Lebanon, Aug. 25, 2024, in this still image obtained from a video. Photo: Reuters TV via REUTERS

JNS.org — Sixty Hezbollah terrorists were killed over the past day in Israeli airstrikes on 20 targets north of Lebanon’s Litani River, including in Baalbek, the Israel Defense Forces said on Thursday morning.

Among the targets hit was the launcher used in Wednesday’s rocket barrage on central Israel, the largest on the center since the war began over a year ago. Weapons storage facilities and terrorist infrastructure were also destroyed.

Strikes were also conducted on Hezbollah targets in Nabatieh and the Dahieh area south of Beirut on Wednesday, according to the IDF.

Among the targets hit in Dahieh, a Hezbollah stronghold, were command centers, weapons storage facilities, and terror infrastructure, according to the military.

“All of the targets were embedded in the heart of a civilian area, an additional example of Hezbollah’s cynical exploitation of Lebanese civilians as human shields,” the IDF said.

“Prior to the strikes, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk to civilians, including using precise munitions, surveillance, and issuing advance warnings to the population in the area.”

According to Lebanese media reports, slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s uncle and his family were killed by an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon on Wednesday. Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli strike on his bunker in Beirut on Sept. 27.

Israeli ground forces continued to dismantle Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, including a weapons storage facility and a rocket launcher.

Israel hits Hezbollah target at Beirut Airport

In the early hours of Thursday morning, Israel conducted an airstrike on a Hezbollah target “within yards’ of runways at Beirut-Rafic Hariri Airport, according to The Daily Telegraph.

According to the British newspaper, which published a video of the strike, up to three missiles were fired at a building located between two runways at Lebanon’s only international airport. The IDF had previously issued an evacuation notice for the area.

The Telegraph noted that all scheduled passenger flights had departed or arrived prior to the attack.

One of the 10 rockets launched at central Israel by Hezbollah shortly before noon on Wednesday hit a parking lot at Ben Gurion Airport, temporarily halting flights at the country’s main international airport. There were no injuries reported.

The IDF said on Thursday morning that overnight the Israeli Air Force struck Hezbollah command centers and terrorist infrastructure sites in the Beirut area.

Hezbollah rocket kills Israeli soldier

Hezbollah launched 170 projectiles into Israeli territory in total on Wednesday, one of which killed an IDF soldier in the country’s north.

The soldier was identified on Thursday morning as Sgt. Ariel Sosnov Sasonov, 20, of the 605th Combat Engineering Battalion, from Jerusalem.

Sasonov was killed by one of 50 rockets launched at the moshav of Avivim near the border in the Upper Galilee, with over 10 reportedly scoring direct hits. Three other soldiers were lightly wounded in the attack.

His death brings the IDF’s casualty toll on all fronts since the start of the war on Oct. 7, 2023, to 781.

Hezbollah said on Thursday that the attack on Avivim was carried out using “Noor-1” rockets, which caused widespread property damage, with 12 homes and agricultural facilities hit.

The rocket strikes ignited fires that took 15 crews hours to get under control.

“Large parts of the moshav were destroyed,” Eyal Peretz, a community board member, told Ynet. “Homes, property, packing houses, and farmland — the damage is heartbreaking.”

Amid Sofer, head of the Merom HaGalil Regional Council, told Ynet: “I don’t understand how residents are expected to even consider returning when rockets are still falling. Security means no sirens, no rockets.”

On Wednesday evening, Sivan Sadeh, 18, of Kibbutz Kfar Masaryk, south of Acre, was killed by a Hezbollah rocket in the Western Galilee.

Magen David Adom first responders discovered Sadeh’s body in an agricultural field near the kibbutz. He had suffered severe shrapnel wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Initial reports had suggested that the victim was a foreign worker, but local authorities later confirmed his identity.