Lebanese group accuses Israel of abducting its leader in raid 

A Lebanese party with an armed wing has accused Israel of abducting one of its members during a cross-border raid in southern Lebanon.

The al-Jamaa al-Islamiya accused Israel on Monday of seizing its official Atwi Atwi from his home in the Hasbaiyya district and taking him to an unknown location.

Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya, which has claimed responsibility for multiple attacks against Israel during the war with Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, condemned “infiltration” by Israeli forces.

Israel has frequently carried out military operations in southern Lebanon despite a November 2024 ceasefire aimed at ending more than a year of fighting with Hezbollah.

It occupies five points on Lebanese territory that it deems strategic. However, as per the ceasefire deal, it should withdraw from the Lebanese territory.

Under the truce, Hezbollah, a powerful political and military force in Lebanon, was to withdraw fighters from south of the Litani River, about 27km (17 miles) north of the border with Israel, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure there.

In a statement, the Israeli military said, following “intelligence indications gathered in recent weeks”, Israeli soldiers “conducted a targeted raid … and apprehended a senior terrorist”.

The man was “transferred for further questioning in Israeli territory”, the army added, accusing al-Jamaa al-Islamiya of having launched “attacks against the State of Israel and its civilians in the north”.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported that Israeli troops entered the area at about 4am (02:00 GMT) before abducting Atwi, who is a former mayor of the village of Hibbariyeh.

Lebanon accuses Israel of having abducted several other citizens since the start of the hostilities.

Hezbollah lawmaker Hussein Hajj Hassan said last month that Israel was holding “20 Lebanese prisoners”, alleging 10 had been abducted “inside Lebanese territory after the ceasefire”.

Separately on Monday, three people, including a child, were killed in an Israeli air raid in southern Lebanon, Lebanese media reported.

The attack targeted a vehicle in the centre of Yanooh town in the Tyre district, the NNA reported.