Two killed, including at least one Hezbollah operative, in Israeli drone strike on southern Lebanon

The Hezbollah-affiliated Al Mayadeen news site reported that two people were killed and three injured in an Israeli drone strike on Monday morning. 

The Hezbollah terrorist group later acknowledged that one of their operatives – Abbas Hijazi, from Majdel Selm – was killed “on the way to Jerusalem,” the group’s term to describe members killed by Israel. 

المقــ ـاومـ ـة الإسـ ـلامـ ـية تزف الشهـ ـيد عباس فادي حجازي "عباس الحر" من بلدة مجدل سلم في جنوب لبنان#ملحق pic.twitter.com/0PqMtsTLfD

— Mulhak - ملحق (@Mulhak) July 29, 2024

Hijazi’s death marks 382 confirmed deaths of Hezbollah operatives since the start of the war in Gaza. He is the first confirmed Hezbollah operative eliminated since the rocket attack that killed 12 Israeli children from the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights on Saturday. 

Following the Israeli drone strike, the IDF reported that its “aerial defense system successfully intercepted a UAV that crossed from Lebanon toward the area of the Western Galilee.” 

The military also stated that rocket and missile sirens were sounded across several northern communities due to the possibility of falling shrapnel from the interception. There were no reported impacts in residential areas. 

At the time of publication, several videos on social media showed fires near Kiryat Shmona, reportedly started by Hezbollah rocket and mortar fire.

שריפות ברכס רמים מעל קרית שמונה - נפילות רקטות בשטחים פתוחים ללא כל התראה 🙁 pic.twitter.com/1vncMGs3q3

— לירי בורק שביט (@lirishavit) July 29, 2024

Lebanon and Syria are reportedly on alert ahead of an expected Israeli retaliation for the rocket strike after the Israeli Security Cabinet authorized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to determine the Israeli response. 

On Monday morning, reports in Arab media indicated that Syria had increased its air defense following Israeli threats to strike Hezbollah and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targets in Lebanon and Syria. At the same time, there were multiple reports of canceled flights to and from Beirut–Rafic Hariri International Airport, Lebanon's only public airport, due to concerns of further escalation.

According to a report in Le Monde, both Air France and Lufthansa canceled flights to and from Beirut. Lufthansa was reported to cancel all Beirut flights until Aug. 5, while Air France canceled flights for Monday and Tuesday. 

On Monday morning, Reuters reported that several Turkish and Greek regional airlines had also canceled flights to Beirut for Monday. 

Hezbollah’s rocket strike on Majdal Shams has raised concerns about a significant escalation in the conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed terror proxy, which is based in Lebanon.