Israel detains top Hezbollah operative in northern Lebanon amid escalating tensions

Israel’s navy captured a high-ranking Hezbollah operative in northern Lebanon, an Israeli military official said Saturday, as the conflict between the Iran-backed group and Israel has shown little sign of abating.

Earlier on Saturday, Lebanese authorities said they were investigating whether Israel was behind the capture of a Lebanese sea captain who was taken by a group of gunmen who landed on the coast near the northern city of Batroun on Friday.

“The operative was transferred to the territory of Israel and an investigation is currently underway,” the military official said, without giving the name of the detainee.

The operation marks the first time Israel has announced a troop deployment deep into northern Lebanon to capture a senior Hezbollah operative since the conflict between the two sides escalated in late September. Since then, Israeli forces have launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon and stepped up airstrikes across the country, including southern Beirut and the eastern Bekaa Valley, killing most of Hezbollah’s top command.

Hezbollah released a statement calling what happened “Zionist aggression in the Batroun area.” The statement did not provide details or confirm whether the Hezbollah member was captured by Israel.

Two Lebanese military officials confirmed to The Associated Press that naval forces landed in Batroun, about 30 kilometers north of Beirut, and abducted a Lebanese national. No one has identified the man or said whether he is believed to have ties to the Lebanese group Hezbollah. They did not confirm whether the men were armed by Israeli forces.

Three Lebanese judicial officials told the AP that the operation was carried out at dawn on Friday, adding that the captain may have had links to Hezbollah. Officials said an investigation was underway to determine whether the man was affiliated with Hezbollah or working for the Israeli spy service, and Israeli forces arrived to rescue him.

Both military and judicial officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to share details about the incident or the ongoing investigation.

Shortly after Israel made the operation public, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati called on Lebanon’s foreign minister to file a complaint against Israel with the UN Security Council.

In the past, Israel has conducted military operations deep into Lebanon to kidnap or kill Hezbollah and Palestinian officials.

Speaking about the event, residents of Lebanon from the residential building where the man was captured said that the armed group presented themselves as state security.

“We were scared. They broke into the apartment next to ours,” Hussein Delbani told The Associated Press not far from where the man was detained. “I thought a government agency was conducting a security operation,” said Delbani, who was displaced from southern Lebanon a month ago when the Israel-Hezbollah war broke out.

He said he saw people on the waterfront from his balcony and they shouted again for him to come inside.

Hami told Al-Jadid that the man was a civilian ship captain. He graduated in 2022 and at the end of September joined Batrun Institute of Marine Science and Technology for additional courses. Hemi said the man lived about 300 meters from the institute.

Hami’s remarks came shortly after two Lebanese journalists posted a video on social media showing about 20 armed men taking a man from under a house with his face covered by a shirt.

Candice Ardiel, a spokeswoman for UN peacekeeping forces stationed in southern Lebanon, denied accusations by some local journalists that the peacekeepers were assisting the ground forces in the operation. The UN mission, known as UNIFIL, has a naval force monitoring the coast.

“Disinformation and false rumors are irresponsible and put peacekeepers at risk,” Ardiel said.

Hezbollah began launching rockets, drones, and rockets from Lebanon into Israeli territory in solidarity with Hamas immediately after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, which triggered the Gaza War. A year of cross-border fighting erupted into full-scale war on October 1, when Israeli forces launched their first ground invasion of southern Lebanon since 2006.