News - Middle East: Amid reports of an Israeli raid in northern Lebanon, resulting in the abduction of a citizen, Hezbollah refuted claims made by the Saudi news channel al-Hadath, emphasizing that it has no official sources or close affiliates providing information to the network or its affiliates.

Al-Hadath, citing sources close to Hezbollah and speaking on condition of anonymity, claimed that the Lebanese person abducted by Israeli naval commandos in the northern Lebanese town of Batroun is Hezbollah official Imad Amhaz.

In a statement released on Saturday, Hezbollah rejected the claims and said that al-Hadath is spreading Zionist propaganda against the resistance movement and the Lebanese people.

“Our policy is crystal clear, as we have outlined in previous statements: Hezbollah has no official sources or close affiliates that provide information to al-Hadath or its affiliates, which are actively and overtly involved in the Zionist propaganda machinery against our resistance and the Lebanese people,” read the statement.

The raid has prompted anger from Lebanese authorities, with the office for caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati saying he had instructed the Foreign Ministry to submit an urgent complaint to the UN Security Council.

It added the Lebanese army and UN peacekeeping force UNIFIL were both investigating the incident.

The Lebanese government said Amhaz, a civilian naval officer, was kidnapped 100 meters from his place of residence.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) said the abduction took place at dawn on Friday when heavily armed Israeli forces landed on the beach of Batroun and seized Amhaz. They took him away on speedboats, it reported.

Lebanese Transport Minister Ali Hamieh said the raid may have violated UN Security Council resolution 1701, which ended the 33-day-long Israeli military onslaught on the country in the summer of 2006 and demanded respect for Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. 

“If it is proven that the kidnapping took place via a naval landing, where is the implementation of Resolution 1701?” he was quoted as saying by local media.

Hezbollah swiftly opened a support front for Palestinians in Gaza following Israel’s October 7, 2023 attack against the besieged territory, which has so far killed over 43,000 people, most of them women and children.

Israel and Hezbollah have been engaging in frequent exchanges of fire across the border almost daily for a year when the Israeli attacks on Lebanon intensified in September, causing significant casualties and destruction in the area.

The Lebanese Health Ministry has updated the death toll from Israeli attacks on the country to at least 2,968 people. Another 13,319 individuals have been wounded.

The Lebanese government says some 1.2 million people have been displaced, while the International Organization for Migration said its count shows at least 842,648 people have been forced to flee their homes.

Press TV