IDF says elite Israeli commandos storm Lebanon beach to capture top Hezbollah official

Israeli naval commandos, consisting of more than 25 soldiers, claimed to be carrying out a landing operation on the coast of Batroun in northern Lebanon and captured Imad Amhaz, a senior member of Hezbollah’s naval force, on November 2. The Israeli commandos arrived and left in speedboats.

According to reports, the operation was carried out in coordination with the German Navy operating within the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) forces to ensure that the Lebanese Navy would not intervene during the operation.

According to local media reports, a special forces unit landed on Al-Batroun Beach in northern Lebanon on Saturday, entered a nearby hut and kidnapped the suspected high-ranking Hezbollah figure from his naval unit.

He was then loaded onto a boat and taken to the Al-Hadath canal.

Hezbollah condemned Israel’s actions in Batroun, but did not confirm whether Amhaz was one of their agents.

However, Lebanon’s Minister of Public Works and Transport, Ali Hamie, told local media that Amhaz was only a captain of civilian ships and a student at a civilian naval institute.

In addition to the operation to take Amhaz, the Shayetet 13 also deployed to southern Lebanon to carry out an attack on an underground Hezbollah compound packed with weapons.

Amhaz’s arrest came on the same day the Israeli army claimed it had killed a top Hezbollah commander Abu Ali Rida.


The IDF accused him of overseeing rocket and anti-tank missile attacks on Israeli forces in southern Lebanon. The military announced his assassination without specifying the date he was killed.

Rida “was responsible for planning and executing rocket and anti-tank missile attacks on IDF (military forces) forces and oversaw the terrorist activities of Hezbollah operatives in the area,” the military said in a statement.

(With input from agencies)