TEL AVIV, February 28. /TASS/. The Israeli Air Force (IAF) carried a strike on Lebanon in the early hours of Friday, eliminating a Hezbollah member responsible for smuggling weapons through the Syria-Lebanon border, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement.
"The IAF conducted an intelligence-based strike in the area of Hermel [in northern Lebanon] and eliminated the terrorist Mohammed Mahdi Ali Shaheen, a Hezbollah terrorist who had been coordinating terrorist transactions for the purchase of weapons on the Syria-Lebanon border, since the understandings between Lebanon and Israel came into effect," the statement reads.
According to the IDF, Shaneen "was a significant terrorist" in Hezbollah's unit active in the Beqaa area, who "has recently been involved in transporting weapons from Syria to Lebanon."
"As part of his role, Shaheen was responsible for making purchase deals for the Hezbollah terrorist organization and mediating the arrival of the shipments and their distributions to the various Hezbollah units," the statement notes.
The IDF added that "Shaheen's actions posed a threat to the State of Israel and constituted a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon.".