BEIRUT, Lebanon: Hezbollah on Saturday said it confronted Israeli troops that infiltrated an east Lebanon town overnight, with Lebanese authorities reporting at least 16 killed in Israeli strikes on the area.
In a statement, Hezbollah said its fighters had “observed the infiltration of four Israeli enemy army helicopters from the Syrian direction”.
After landing and disembarking, the advancing troops “were engaged” by a group of Hezbollah fighters as they reached a cemetery in the town of Nabi Sheet, Hezbollah said.
“The clash escalated after the enemy force was exposed,” it added, saying the Israeli troops launched intense strikes before evacuating. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
A Hezbollah official in the Bekaa region, where Nabi Sheet is located, told AFP that the cemetery the Israelis raided belonged to the Shukr family. Last month, Lebanese authorities charged four people with kidnapping Ahmad Shukr, whose brother Hassan is suspected of involvement in the 1986 capture of Israeli air force navigator Ron Arad, on behalf of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency.
Arad is presumed dead, though his remains were never returned. The Hezbollah official said it was not clear what the Israelis took from the cemetery.
