Beirut, Feb 9: In an operation in southern Lebanon early on Monday, Israelis forces seized a local official with a Sunni Islamist group and an ally of the Palestinian militant Hamas group and took him to Israel for questioning, the Israeli military and Lebanese state media reported.
Also on Monday, an Israeli drone struck a car in the southern Lebanese village of Yanouh, killing three people, including a child, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency. There was no immediate comment from Israel on the strike.
According to the NNA agency, Atwi Atwi — a local official with the Sunni Islamist group al-Jamaa al-Islamiya, or the Islamic Group in English — was taken in the southern village of Hebbarieh, in the region of Hasbaya and close to the border with Israel.
A statement from the Israeli military said Israeli troops apprehended an Islamic Group official in a “targeted intelligence-based operation.” It did not release the official’s name.
The Islamic Group condemned the seizure, saying it was part of Israel’s daily attacks and violations of Lebanon’s sovereignty. It called on the Lebanese state to work for the release of Atwi.
The Islamic Group is Lebanon’s branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, a pan-Islamist political group, with an armed wing in Lebanon known as Fajr Forces.
After the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023, the Fajr Forces joined forces with the Lebanese Shiite militant Hezbollah group, launching rockets across the border into Israel that it said were in support of Hamas in Gaza.
The Brotherhood has been outlawed in much of the Middle East and labeled a terror group. Last month, the Trump administration designated the Lebanese, Jordanian and Egyptian branches of the Brotherhood as terrorist organizations.
Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya’s leader, Mohammed Takkoush, said during the 14-month war between Hezbollah and Israel that his group and Hezbollah put aside their differences on conflicts in Syria and Yemen to join forces against Israel.
Hezbollah started attacking Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel, triggering the latest Israel-Hamas war. Israel later launched a widespread bombardment of Lebanon that severely weakened Hezbollah, followed by a ground invasion.
The conflict ended with a US-brokered ceasefire in 2024, and since then, Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes and ground incursions into Lebanon. Israel says it’s carrying out the operations to remove Hezbollah strongholds and threats against Israel.
The Israel-Hezbollah war killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon, including hundreds of civilians, and caused an estimated $11 billion in damage and destruction, according to the World Bank. In Israel, 127 people died, including 80 soldiers. (AP)
