Israeli forces capture senior Hezbollah operative in north Lebanon, Israeli military official says

BATROUN, Lebanon (AP) — Israeli naval forces captured a senior Hezbollah operative in north Lebanon, an Israeli military official said Saturday.

Earlier on Saturday, Lebanese authorities said it was investigating whether Israel was behind the capture of a Lebanese sea captain who was taken away by a group of armed men who had landed on the coast near the northern town of Batroun Friday.

“The operative has been transferred to Israeli territory and is currently being investigated,” the military official said, without providing the name of the person in detention.

Two Lebanese military officials confirmed to the Associated Press that a naval force landed in Batroun, about 30 kilometers (18 miles) north of Beirut, and abducted a Lebanese citizen. Neither gave the man’s identity or said whether he was thought to have links to Lebanon’s Hezbollah group. They did not confirm whether the armed men were an Israeli force.

Speaking to Lebanon’s Al-Jadeed TV, Minister of Public Works and Transport Ali Hamie declined to go into details or answer questions about whether it was thought to be an Israeli operation.

Three Lebanese judicial officials told AP the incident occurred at dawn Friday, adding that the captain might have links with Hezbollah. The officials said an investigation is looking into the man is linked to Hezbollah or working for an Israeli spy agency and an Israeli force came to rescue him.

Both the military and judicial officials spoke on the condition of anonymity as they were unauthorized to share details about the incident or the ongoing investigation.

Hezbollah issued a statement calling what happened a “Zionist aggression in the Batroun area.” The statement did not give details or confirm whether one of Hezbollah’s members was captured by Israel.

Israel has carried out in the past commando operations deep inside Lebanon to kidnap or kill Hezbollah and Palestinian officials.

Residents of the apartment building where the man was seized said the armed group introduced themselves as state security.

“We were terrified. They were breaking into the apartment next to ours,” Hussein Delbani told The Associated Press near where the man was captured. “I thought a state agency was doing a security operation,” said Delbani, who was displaced from south Lebanon a month ago when the Israel-Hezbollah war erupted.

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He said he saw from his balcony people down on the coast and they screamed again for him to go inside.

Hamie told Al-Jadeed the man was a captain of civilian ships. He graduated in 2022 and in late September joined the Batroun’s Maritime Sciences and Technology Institute for additional courses. Hamie said that the man lived some 300 meters (980 feet) from the institute.

Hamie’s remarks came shortly after two Lebanese journalists posted a video on social media showing what appeared to be about 20 armed men taking away a man from in front a house, his face covered with his shirt.

Kandice Ardiel, a spokesperson for the U.N. peacekeeping force deployed in south Lebanon, denied allegations by some local journalists who said that the peacekeepers helped the landing force in the operation. The U.N. mission, known as UNIFIL, has a maritime force that monitors the coast.

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

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Mroue reported from Beirut. Associated Press writers Sally Abou Aljoud in Beirut and Natalie Melzer in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.