In a rare deep incursion into northern Lebanon, Israeli naval commandos captured a high-ranking Hezbollah operative late Friday night. The IDF confirmed Saturday that Shayetet 13, Israel’s elite naval commando unit, led the operation, marking a significant departure from typical ground activity limited to southern Lebanon. According to Lebanese media, Israeli special forces arrived by sea, conducted a swift raid on a chalet along the coast in Batroun—located about 140 kilometers north of Israel’s maritime border—and extracted a Hezbollah operative, identified as Imad Amhaz. The team departed quickly via speedboats. Amhaz, who the IDF views as a “significant source of knowledge” for Hezbollah’s naval capabilities, was reportedly studying at a civilian maritime institute, according to Lebanon’s Minister of Public Works and Transport, Ali Hamie, who added that Amhaz captained civilian ships. Photographs circulated on social media appeared to show Amhaz in a naval uniform, though his specific affiliations remain disputed. The IDF has previously conducted airstrikes in northern Lebanon, but ground operations have been largely restricted to southern regions, making this capture particularly notable. Soon after Israel went public about the operation, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati called on Lebanon’s foreign minister to file a complaint against Israel at the U.N. Security Council. Israel has carried out in the past commando operations deep inside Lebanon to kidnap or kill Hezbollah and Palestinian officials. Recounting the event, Lebanese residents from the apartment building where the man was seized said the armed group introduced themselves as state security. “We were terrified. They were breaking into the apartment next to ours,” Hussein Delbani told The Associated Press near where the man was captured. “I thought a state agency was doing a security operation,” said Delbani, who was displaced from south Lebanon a month ago when the Israel-Hezbollah war erupted. He said he saw from his balcony people down on the coast and they screamed again for him to go inside. Hamie told Al-Jadeed the man was a captain of civilian ships. He graduated in 2022 and in late September joined the Batroun’s Maritime Sciences and Technology Institute for additional courses. Hamie said that the man lived some 300 meters (980 feet) from the institute. Hamie’s remarks came shortly after two Lebanese journalists posted a video on social media showing what appeared to be about 20 armed men taking away a man from in front a house, his face covered with his shirt. Kandice Ardiel, a spokesperson for the U.N. peacekeeping force deployed in south Lebanon, denied allegations by some local journalists who said that the peacekeepers helped the landing force in the operation. The U.N. mission, known as UNIFIL, has a maritime force that monitors the coast. “Disinformation and false rumors are irresponsible and put peacekeepers at risk,” Ardiel said. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)