Hezbollah confirms death of its commander, who Israel says was an air defense expert

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Hezbollah confirmed the death of a commander late Saturday evening, after Israel launched heavy air strikes on Lebanon a few days earlier and there was a sharp increase in violence between the two sides.

The powerful Iranian-backed militia identified Maytham Mustafa Al Attar as the commander killed. Israel said it attacked the commander in Baalbek, 100 km north of the border with Israel, one of a growing number of attacks deep inside Lebanon that were previously a rarity.

A statement by the Israeli army said he had been trained by Iran and had expertise in air defense.

The attack followed a massive escalation last week when Hezbollah fired 200 rockets and several drones at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Muhammad Neamah Naser, a senior commander. The number of rockets fired in one of the largest attacks to date reached the daily high of the 34-day Lebanon-Israel war in 2006.

Military analysts fear that the death toll in a similar war today would be far higher than that conflict, in which about 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, as well as 44 civilians in Israel and 121 Israeli soldiers were killed.

Israel has repeatedly warned it could launch a ground offensive in Lebanon to stop cross-border rocket and drone attacks, and its forces are increasingly focusing on attacking Hezbollah’s rudimentary air defenses.

The group has shot down four Israeli drones since October 8, when it opened what it called a “pressure front” that complicates Israel’s war in Gaza by depleting the enemy’s resources on two fronts.

Hezbollah has used Iranian-supplied Saqr 358 anti-aircraft missiles to shoot down Israeli Hermes drones, each of which costs up to $5 million.

However, the weapon is only optimized for attacking relatively low-flying aircraft such as helicopters and drones.

Israeli analysts have speculated in recent years that Iran has supplied the group with more powerful systems, such as the Russian-made Buk and Pantsir systems, which the group may have acquired from Syria. In theory, these weapons could attack Israeli fighter jets, weakening Israel’s considerable air advantage.

Updated: July 7, 2024, 08:04