Israel kills 200 Hezbollah terrorists, destroys 140 launchers in a week

Israeli airstrikes have killed approximately 200 Hezbollah terrorists and destroyed 140 rocket launchers in the past week, the Israel Defense Forces disclosed on Thursday morning.

The IDF said the launchers posed "an immediate threat" to the Israeli home front and soldiers operating in southern Lebanon.

Targets included a launcher from which rockets were fired into the Western Galilee and central Israel on Tuesday and Wednesday, the army added.

Among the terrorists eliminated in the strikes were the head of battalion operations and the head of battalion anti-tank weapons in Hezbollah's Radwan Force in the coastal sector.

"These attacks and assassinations constitute another damage to the ability of the terrorist organization Hezbollah to promote and carry out terrorist operations from southern Lebanon against the Israeli rear on the northern border," the IDF said.

Meanwhile, Lebanese media reported new airstrikes on the Dahieh district of Beirut. Dahieh is a Shi'ite stronghold in the southern area of Lebanon's capital city. The IDF said on Wednesday it had destroyed "a majority" of the Iran-backed terror group's weapons storage and production facilities located below the neighbourhood.

"Over the past 20 years, the Hezbollah terrorist organization has established dozens of weapons production sites and storage facilities in the heart of the Dahieh district, the organization's governing stronghold. These sites, systematically concealed beneath civilian buildings, have produced and stored hundreds of missiles and rockets intended to inflict significant harm on the State of Israel," the army said.

After the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, Hezbollah began launching rockets and launching drones at northern Israel communities daily. More than 68,000 residents of northern Israel are displaced from their homes. Hezbollah leaders have repeatedly said they would continue the attacks to prevent Israelis from returning to their homes.

At least 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas's attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7.

Of the 97 remaining hostages, more than 30 have been declared dead. Hamas has also been holding captive two Israeli civilians since 2014 and 2015, and the bodies of two soldiers killed in 2014.