Daijiworld Media Network – Beirut
Beirut, Feb 10: Israeli forces on Monday carried out a targeted operation in southern Lebanon, seizing a local official linked to a Sunni Islamist group allied with Palestinian militant organisation Hamas, and transporting him to Israel for questioning, according to the Israeli military and Lebanese state media.
The operation came amid continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon, despite a ceasefire brokered last year.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported that Atwi Atwi, a local official of al-Jamaa al-Islamiya (Islamic Group), was detained in the village of Hebbarieh in the Hasbaya region, close to the Israeli border.
Confirming the operation, the Israeli military said its troops apprehended an Islamic Group official during a “targeted intelligence-based operation”, without disclosing the detainee’s identity.
The Islamic Group strongly condemned the seizure, describing it as part of Israel’s daily attacks and violations of Lebanon’s sovereignty, and called on the Lebanese authorities to work towards Atwi’s immediate release.
Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya is Lebanon’s branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, a pan-Islamist movement with an armed wing in Lebanon known as the Fajr Forces.
Earlier on Monday, an Israeli drone strike targeted a car in the southern Lebanese village of Yanouh, killing three people, including a three-year-old child, the NNA reported, citing the Health Ministry.
The Israeli military later said the strike targeted Hezbollah artillery official Ahmad Salami, adding that it was aware of claims that civilians had been killed and that the incident was under review.
Following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023, the Fajr Forces joined hands with the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah, launching rockets into Israel in what they said was support for Hamas in Gaza.
The Muslim Brotherhood has been outlawed in several Middle Eastern countries and designated a terror organisation in many. Last month, the Trump administration designated the Lebanese, Jordanian and Egyptian branches of the Brotherhood as terrorist organisations.
During the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah conflict, Islamic Group leader Mohammed Takkoush had said his organisation and Hezbollah had set aside differences over Syria and Yemen to unite against Israel.
Hezbollah began attacking Israel on October 8, 2023, a day after Hamas launched its assault on southern Israel. Israel responded with extensive airstrikes across Lebanon, followed by a ground invasion that significantly weakened Hezbollah.
The conflict ended with a US-brokered ceasefire in 2024, but Israel has since carried out near-daily airstrikes and ground incursions in Lebanon. According to the United Nations, these operations have killed more than 100 civilians.
Israel maintains the strikes are aimed at dismantling Hezbollah positions and neutralising threats along its northern border.
The Israel-Hezbollah war killed over 4,000 people in Lebanon, including hundreds of civilians, and caused an estimated $11 billion in damage, according to the World Bank. In Israel, 127 people, including 80 soldiers, were killed during the conflict.