Tel Aviv, Aug 21, 2024, IANS

Tel Aviv, Aug 21 (IANS) The Hezbollah group has announced that four of its operatives were killed during the early hours of Wednesday in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon‘s Matmoura. The militant group based out of Lebanon has in a statement that four of its members were killed “On the road to Jerusalem” -- its term for its operatives and cadres killed in Israeli strikes. Hezbollah said that the Israeli airstrike hit on its cell of operatives. The militant group said that with these four deaths the number of Hezbollah operatives killed since the commencement of the war in the Gaza Strip has reached 419. Meanwhile, Lebanon’s health ministry in a statement early Wednesday said that Israeli strikes in the country’s east killed one person and wounded 19 others. The statement said, “Israeli enemy strikes on the Bekaa Valley killed one person and wounded 19 others." Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has in a statement earlier said that it had attacked Hezbollah‘s weapons storage facilities in the Baalbek area. The IDF said that the strike was in response to Hezbollah‘s drone attack in northern Israel. Lebanese media have reported several Israeli airstrikes in eastern Lebanon, in the Baalbek District on Wednesday early morning hours. The reports said that explosions were heard as Israeli fighter jets flew over the area. It may be recalled that Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah had announced heavy attacks on Israel following the assassination of its military head, Fuad Shukr on July 30. Fuad Shukr was the closest aide of Hassan Nasrallah, and Israel has announced that he was responsible for the Hezbollah missile attack on a school playground in Golan Heights, northern Israel leading to the killing of 12 children. The assassination of Fuad Shukr was hours before the killing of Hamas political head, Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. However, Israel has not taken responsibility for the killing of Haniyeh. After Hamas militants swarmed southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping 251, the region has been tense with Israel raiding into the Gaza Strip and wreaking havoc in the region killing thousands of Palestinians. Hezbollah has been attacking Israel from the northern area while Hamas attacked it from the southern area near the Gaza Strip. Israel has been maintaining that both Hezbollah and Hamas were the proxies of the Islamic Republic of Iran.