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

The operation was reportedly 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 did not intervene during the operation.

According to local media reports, a special unit landed on Al-Batroun beach in northern Lebanon on Saturday, entered a nearby cabin and kidnapped the suspected senior Hezbollah official from its naval unit.

They then put him on a boat and took him away, according to the Al-Hadath channel.

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

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

Along with the operation to capture Amhaz, Shayetet 13 was also deployed to southern Lebanon to carry out a raid on a Hezbollah underground compound filled with weapons.

Amhaz’s arrest came on the same day that the Israeli army claimed to have killed a senior Hezbollah commander, Abu Ali Rida.


The IDF accused him of supervising rocket and anti-tank missile attacks against Israeli forces in southern Lebanon. The military announced his murder without specifying the date on which he was murdered.

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

(With contributions from agencies)