Israel abducts Islamic Group official from south Lebanon, 4 killed including child

Israeli forces infiltrated a village in southern Lebanon overnight and abducted an official from al-Jamaa al-Islamiya, according to statements from both the group and the Israeli military, while an airstrike killed three people including a child.

Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya (the Islamic Group) said Israeli forces crossed into the village of al-Habbariyeh in the Hasbaya district after midnight and seized Atwi Atwi, who heads the group’s Hasbaya and Marjaayoun areas.

The village lies close to the Israeli border, neighbouring Chebaa and Kfar Shouba, parts of which have remained under Israeli occupation for decades.

Condemning the incident, the group said Israeli forces took Atwi from his home to an unknown location "after terrifying his family and assaulting them". It held the Israeli military responsible for "any harm that may befall Atwi", describing the abduction as part of "a series of daily violations and barbaric attacks on Lebanese sovereignty carried out by Israel".

The group also called on the Lebanese state to pressure mediators overseeing the ceasefire with Israel to secure Atwi’s release, along with that of all Lebanese detainees held in Israeli custody. The Lebanese government had not released a statement at the time of this article.

Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee confirmed the arrest, saying the army detained Atwi during an overnight raid in the Jabal Rous area of southern Lebanon.

"In a nighttime operation, forces from the 210th Division arrested a senior terrorist operative from the Islamic Group," Adraee said in a post on X. He added that the arrest followed intelligence gathered over recent weeks and that the suspect was taken to Israel for questioning. Weapons were also found inside the targeted building, the army claimed.

Adraee said al-Jamaa al-Islamiya had carried out attacks against Israel and its citizens on the northern front during the war and "in recent days."

Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya is a Sunni Islamist political party founded in 1964 as the Lebanese branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. It holds one seat in Lebanon’s parliament and was recently designated a "terrorist organisation" by the United States, along with two other Muslim Brotherhood groups in Egypt and Jordan.

Several members of the group were killed after joining Hezbollah in cross-border clashes with Israel in October 2023 in support of Gaza. The conflict later escalated into a full-scale war in September 2024, before largely ending with a US-brokered ceasefire two months later.

Child among three killed

Since the ceasefire, frequent Israeli strikes on Lebanon have killed hundreds of Hezbollah fighters, as well as several members of the al-Jamaa al-Islamiya. A senior commander from the group, Hussein Izzat Atwi, was killed in a drone strike in April last year.

As well as the long-disputed Chebaa Farms and Kfar Shouba Hills, Israel occupies five strategic hilltops inside Lebanese territory along the border, in violation of the ceasefire agreement.

Dozens of Lebanese detainees, including civilians, also remain held in Israeli prisons.

In its latest attack, an Israeli airstrike on south Lebanon Monday morning killed three people, including a child.

The Israeli military claimed it targeted a Hezbollah member in the village of Yanouh, while Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported that two passersby were also killed.

Other local media said a police officer and his three-year-old son were the two civilians killed after Israel targeted their car.

Later in the day, another man was shot dead in the border village of Ayta al-Shaab. Local media reported that he was killed in a sniper attack near the town’s municipal building, less than a kilometre from the Israeli border.

The NNA also said a Lebanese army unit rescued two young men who had been trapped near the Ayta al-Shaab cemetery after being targeted with Israeli stun grenades, as an Israeli drone conducted low-altitude flights overhead.

Dozens of civilians are among the hundreds killed since the 27 November 2024 ceasefire. Lebanon has said it is moving forward with a plan to disarm all militant groups, including Iran-backed Hezbollah, while repeatedly calling on Israel to halt its strikes and withdraw its forces.