Israel says it captured strategic Ali al-Taher ridge

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Friday that Israeli forces had captured the Ali al-Taher ridge from Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, calling it the completion of a phase of securing Israeli control in what Israel describes as its security zone.

Hezbollah did not confirm losing the ridge, which is about 10 kilometres from the border with Israel, near Nabatieh and the Litani river. The position had been targeted by several Israeli strikes in recent weeks despite a ceasefire.

Israel says Hezbollah used the high ground to fire at Israeli targets and built a tunnel network there. The Israeli military said the network included command centres and weapons storage rooms and was planned and funded by Iran.

Katz said the Israeli military would work to neutralise tunnels and hold the ridge to prevent Hezbollah from re-establishing itself there. He said Israel would not withdraw from the zone until Hezbollah is disarmed throughout Lebanon and threats to residents of Israel’s Galilee region are removed.

Military analyst Riad Kahwaji said the ridge sits between several villages and near Nabatieh, with tunnels connecting villages around it. He said control of the area could give Israel easier passage on both sides.

Hezbollah spokesman Youssef al-Zein last month denied that Iranian personnel were at the Ali al-Taher position, as some media outlets had reported. He said Israel had exaggerated the importance of the ridge as a military objective, while also saying Hezbollah would defend the position as much as it could.

Lebanese authorities say Israeli airstrikes and a ground invasion during the conflict have killed more than 4,300 people. The conflict has calmed since a US-Iran memorandum of understanding and an Israel-Lebanon framework agreement in June, but Beirut still reports Israeli strikes and violence has persisted around Ali al-Taher.