A representative of the Israeli army said that the Israeli Navy captured a high-ranking member of the Shiite group "Hezbollah" in northern Lebanon, the Associated Press quoted BTA as saying. The operation took place in the northern Lebanese city of Batroun, the Israeli military spokesman said, without disclosing the name of the detained member of the Lebanese Shia group.
At the same time, Lebanon's acting prime minister called for an investigation into the abduction of a Lebanese citizen in the city of Batroun, according to a statement released by Najib Mikati's office, Reuters adds.
The text states that the name of the kidnapped Lebanese is Imad Amhaz. Mikati consulted with the Lebanese military and UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and called on Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib to submit an urgent complaint to the UN Security Council, the office of Lebanon's caretaker prime minister added.
Earlier yesterday, authorities in Lebanon said a Lebanese ship captain had been kidnapped by a group of gunmen north of Beirut and that they were investigating whether Israel was involved.
Two Lebanese army officials confirmed to the AP that naval forces landed in Batroun, about 30 km north of Beirut, and abducted a Lebanese citizen. Neither identified the man nor said whether he was believed to be affiliated with Hezbollah. They did not confirm whether the gunmen were from Israeli forces.
Public Works and Transport Minister Ali Hami declined to give details or answer a question about whether it was believed to be an Israeli operation.
Three Lebanese judicial officials told the AP that the kidnapping took place early yesterday morning, adding that the captain may have ties to "Hezbollah". Officials said investigators were looking into whether the man was linked to "Hezbollah" or working for an Israeli intelligence agency and whether Israeli forces came to rescue him.
The Israeli military said it was verifying local media reports that Israeli forces had captured a senior member of Hezbollah's naval forces during the operation. Israel has previously conducted operations deep into Lebanon to kidnap or kill Hezbollah operatives. and Palestinian representatives, notes AP.
Hami told "Al Jadid" television that the man was a captain of civilian ships. He graduated in 2022 and attended additional courses at the Institute of Naval Science and Technology in Batrun at the end of September. Hami added that the man lived about 300 meters from the institute.
The minister made the statement shortly after two Lebanese journalists posted a video on social media showing around 20 armed men taking away a man whose face was covered by his shirt.
Hundreds of Israelis joined an anti-government protest in Tel Aviv last night to voice their displeasure with the Israeli government's failure to reach an agreement with the radical Palestinian group "Hamas" for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and for the release of the 97 hostages held captive in the enclave for more than a year, AFP reported, quoted by BTA.
Holding placards with the images of hostages and flags, the demonstrators chanted "Deal now!", "Stop the war," and "We will not abandon them," the agency informed, noting that protests have taken place every week since the beginning. of the Gaza conflict on October 7 last year in a Tel Aviv square renamed "Hostage Square".
"There were countless opportunities to end this crisis and every one of them was torpedoed by the government," one of the demonstrators, Zahiro Shahar Mor, told AFP.
"The spiral of violence is intensifying week after week with no end in sight," says the fifty-two-year-old bank employee, whose uncle Avraham Munder died in captivity in Gaza. Whereas Israel announced the achievement of most of its military objectives, including the elimination of the leader of "Hamas" Yahya Sinuar, a truce should be concluded, the protesters believe.
According to the Israeli government, the US and a number of observers, Sinwar, considered the strategist of the unprecedented and bloody attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which triggered the Israeli offensive in Gaza, was the main obstacle to the achievement of a truce.
Another demonstrator - Ifat Calderon, cousin of those held captive by "Hamas" French-Israeli citizen Ofer Calderon accuses Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of "sabotage" of efforts to cease fire, says AFP.
"Every time we try to come to an agreement about the hostages, he sabotages it. She blamed Sinuar, and now that he's gone, she finds another reason. And so every time," says the fifty-year-old Calderon for the agency.
The Israeli army has renewed its strikes on the Lebanese-Syrian border post, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi announced, quoted by DPA and BTA. "A new Israeli airstrike has been carried out at the Jusieh border crossing, from where many Lebanese and Syrians cross from Lebanon to Syria,'' Grandi wrote on the social network X. He pointed out that humanitarian objects were also hit.
"Even escaping (and caring for those who do) becomes a difficult and dangerous task as the war continues to grow,", Grandi warned.
The Israeli army has not yet commented on the case.
According to Lebanese authorities, more than 400,000 people have crossed the border from Lebanon into Syria since September, after Israel stepped up its military campaign against the Lebanese Shiite group "Hezbollah".
Meanwhile, the Lebanese Ministry of Health announced that since the beginning of the fighting between "Hezbollah" and Israel, which began in October last year, the number of people killed in Lebanon has reached 2,968, among whom there are 183 minors, and the injured are now 13,319.
The Ministry of Health does not keep separate statistics for the victims among the civilian population and the fighters from "Hezbollah", notes DPA.
The Israeli army announced that it had eliminated about 900 "active terrorists" from the Islamist Palestinian movement "Hamas" and by other extremist groups during their land offensive in the city of Jabalia, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, which began at the beginning of last month, BTA reported.
A further 700 Palestinians were captured, 300 of whom were found to be members of terrorist groups, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.
Two Israeli soldiers were killed in the fierce fighting, for which reinforcements came from other areas of the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army added. DPA stipulates that these data cannot be independently verified.
According to the agency, the situation in Jabalia is dire. Tens of thousands of civilians have left the city, and it is almost impossible to reach it with food and clean water.
The Israeli army said yesterday that it had updated the Civil Defense Command's defense instructions, raising the level of readiness in the Lower Galilee and the southern Golan from "partial" at "full", reported Reuters, quoted by BTA.
At the same time, the army noted that in some municipalities the gathering of up to 2,000 people is allowed.
The changes reflect Israel's concern about the security of its citizens at a time when fighting is taking place between Israeli forces and the Lebanese Hezbollah group.