Moment Israeli soldiers capture top Hezbollah terror commander in daring raid before escaping from Lebanon in speedboats
THIS is the moment Israeli soldiers capture a top Hezbollah terror commander and escape from Lebanon in speedboats.
IDF naval commandos captured the official in a daring rain in the north of the country as fighting rages in the south.
Imad Amhaz was considered by the IDF to be a “significant source of knowledge” in the terror group’s naval force.
Black and white CCTV footage released by the IDF appeared to show its troops moving Amhaz through a parking lot as they kidnapped him.
About a dozen spec ops soldiers with night vision goggles, oxygen tanks, and rifles raised walked him past the camera during the seizure.
Amhaz was snatched and taken back to Israel to be questioned by the military spies.
Lebanese media said the special forces arrived from the sea and raided a chalet on the coast of Batroun, south of Tripoli, and took one person with them before leaving the area in speedboats.
A Lebanese journalist cited anonymous Lebanese military officials as saying the operation was apparently carried out in coordination with the German Navy.
The raid took place some 140km (87miles) north of Israel’s border with Lebanon.
Ali Hamie, Lebanon’s Minister of Public Works and Transport, claimed that Amhaz was only a captain of civilian ships.
Images posted to social media showed Amhaz in what appeared to be a civilian nautical uniform.
The raid is noteworthy as it appears to be one of the first carried out by the IDF in northern Israel.
The Israeli military also said on Saturday it had killed a commander of Hezbollah’s Nasser Brigade rocket unit in southern Lebanon, and that he had been responsible for several attacks on Israel
The kidnapping clip comes just a day after the IDF released footage of it killing a Hamas leader as he was driving through Gaza.
Izz al-Din Kassab was killed along with another Hamas official named Ayman Ayesh in an Israeli strike on their car in Khan Younis.
Kassab was responsible for coordinating with other groups in the Gaza Strip.
Iran has also vowed a “crushing response” to Israel with fresh strikes as it also threatened the US.
Khamenei, delivering a speech in Tehran today, was met with chants from students praising “the blood in our veins is a gift to our leader”.
The leader’s speech represents yet another warning shot from Iran as Tehran prepares a revenge hit for Israel’s October 26 strike on military bases.
A NEW DAWN FOR HAMAS?
It comes after Hamas’ boss and the mastermind behind the horrific October 7 massacre Yahya Sinwar was killed.
The IDF released footage of Sinwar’s final moments, hunched over and wounded inside a bombed building in Gaza.
They also released images of Sinwar dead, with a bullet hole in his head.
Fearing his own death, Sinwar left the secret handwritten notes for Hamas fighters with directions about what to do with the remaining hostages.
The three-page dossier, published by the Palestinian paper Al-Quds, is claimed to be his final “wills” and “directives.”
Scribbled over the pages are instructions that ask Hamas captors guarding the hostages to “take care of the lives of enemy prisoners and secure them”, dubbing them “bargaining chips” to be used during peace talks.
Muhammad Sinwar, the slain terror chief’s brother, is being seen as the next possible successor to take over the terror outfit.
He became the de facto second-in-command of Hamas’ leadership in Gaza following the deaths of top Hamas military commanders, such as Mohammed Deif and Marwan Issa.
Mohammed became a trusted confidant of Yahya, being one of the few people who knew where the Hamas boss was hiding during the war.
Israeli officials warned that Muhammad is as much of a hardliner as his brother, and could pose as a major obstacle in a potential hostage deal – especially after Israel killed his brother.
Grisha Yakubovich, a former senior Israeli military official and expert on Palestinian affairs, explained how Mohammed Sinwar’s rise to power poses a significant danger.
He told The Sun: “Mohammed Sinwar is just as radical, if not more, than Yahya Sinwar.
“If he takes over the leadership of Hamas, the situation could become significantly worse.”
Mohammed, though operating largely behind the scenes, is said to have earned a reputation for being ruthless and uncompromising.
Inside the twisted life of Yahya Sinwar
By Nick Parker, Foreign Editor
His life was saved twice by Israel – but the monster dubbed “The Hamas Bin Laden” repaid his sworn enemy by masterminding the October 7 horror.
Yahya Sinwar, 61, spent 22 years in an Israeli prison for terrorist murder and kidnap plots and spent every second honing his burning hatred for his captors.
His astonishing rise to the top of the Hamas terror tree came despite being sentenced to four life sentences in 1989 for planning the abduction and killing of two Israeli soldiers and the murder of four Palestinians he suspected of working with Israel.
The bearded beast’s life was first saved when he was cured of cancer by an operation in prison.
Then in 2011, he was freed, among 1,026 others, in a prisoner exchange for a single Israeli soldier in a deal that has been damned by his thousands of victims ever since.
Sinwar taught himself Hebrew and became fluent during his multiple stints as a caged man.
He began reading and studying every Israeli newspaper to probe the weak spots in his enemy’s armour.
The terror master’s deep knowledge of what makes Israelis tick led him to realise the power of the hostage-taking tactic now traumatising the strife-torn Jewish nation.
Yet despite his blood lust and bravado, the Hamas commander “cried like a baby” when he learned he had cancer, his jailer Lieutenant Betty Lahat has revealed.