On Monday, May 18, 2026, the Israeli Defense Forces announced that they had killed a senior commander of the Islamic terrorist organization Jihad in a Sunday airstrike in Lebanon.
The IDF stated that the airstrike targeted and eliminated Wael Mahmoud Abd al-Halim, who served as a commander of the Jihad terrorist group in the Beqaa region of Lebanon.
“Halim was responsible for coordinating joint operations between Islamic Jihad terrorists and Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon, and in recent weeks, he had orchestrated terror attacks against IDF soldiers,” the IDF said in a statement.
The strike that took out Halim was one of 30 airstrikes Israel conducted in Lebanon in the past 24 hours.
According to the Israeli Defense Forces, these airstrikes targeted Hezbollah weapon storage facilities, observation posts, and infrastructure used by the terrorist organization to carry out attacks against IDF soldiers and Israeli civilians.
Lebanese media reports mentioned that Halim’s 17-year-old daughter also perished in the airstrike.
The Israeli military emphasized that they had taken measures to minimize harm to civilians before launching the attack.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon fired at Israel on March 2nd, prompting Israeli military action in Lebanon to eliminate the threat posed by Hezbollah to Israel.
Once again, on Monday, the Israeli Defense Forces issued evacuation warnings to residents in southern Lebanon and accused Hezbollah of violating the ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States and warned of imminent airstrikes.
Hezbollah has long been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and Israel. The group has not engaged in peace negotiations between Israel and Lebanon and has rejected the ceasefire agreements.
Israeli Defense Forces spokesperson Avichay Adraee, in a recent directive for civilian evacuation in Lebanon, stated that residents of Harouf, Burj al-Shamali, and Debaal villages “must immediately evacuate their homes and move at least 1000 meters away from the villages to open areas.
“Anyone near Hezbollah members, facilities, or combat equipment will be risking their lives,” Adraee said.
On Monday, Hezbollah forces in southern Lebanon launched a series of rocket attacks at Israeli troops, triggering alarms in the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona and nearby border communities.
According to the Israeli military, some rockets crossed the border into Israeli territory. These rockets were intercepted or landed in open areas, causing no casualties.
Furthermore, the Israeli military reported that a Hezbollah-launched explosive drone recently hit Israeli territory near the Lebanese border. Fragments of the drone’s explosion were discovered in the Shomera community.