JERUSALEM

The Israeli army has claimed it killed Mohammad Mahdi Ali Shaheen, a Hezbollah leader, in a Thursday airstrike in the eastern Lebanese region of Hermel.

In a Friday statement, the Israeli army said that the airstrike had targeted the Bekaa Valley. “Shaheen, a key Hezbollah figure, was involved in overseeing arms procurement operations along the Syria-Lebanon border since the implementation of ceasefire agreements between Israel and Lebanon,” the army claimed.

There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah or the Lebanese government on the Israeli army’s statement.

However, the official Lebanese News Agency confirmed on Thursday that "an Israeli airstrike on Hermel resulted in the killing of two individuals," without giving more details.

The attack came in violation of a ceasefire agreement that has been in place since last November ending months of cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah that escalated into a full-scale conflict last September.