Israel pounds Nabatieh, says killed deputy head of elite Hezbollah force

The Israeli army pounded Wednesday the southern city of Nabatieh, after urging residents to leave the city and nearby villages, warning it was poised to attack Hezbollah targetsattacks.

"Hezbollah's terrorist activities force the (Israeli army) to act forcefully against it in these areas", military spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a post on X, with Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reporting strikes had already begun on the city of Nabatieh.

The Israeli army later said it killed the deputy head of Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force, Mustafa Ahmad Shahadi, in a strike on Nabatieh.

"In an intelligence-directed strike, the Israeli air force struck and eliminated Mustafa Ahmad Shahadi, deputy commander of Hezbollah's Radwan Forces, in the area of Nabatieh," the army said in a statement, adding that Shahadi had previously run Radwan operations in Syria and overseen "terror attacks in southern Lebanon".