The Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday carried out a strike in southern Lebanon, killing a Hezbollah operative.

He was the first person killed by the IDF in Lebanon since Israel withdrew from most of the border area a day earlier.

The official National News agency reported the “enemy drone struck a vehicle… in the town of  Ayta ash-Shab,” near the southern border.

An IDF statement said the Hezbollah member was targeted in the town after he was seen handling weapons.

The NNA had earlier said one person was wounded in the Wazzani region, elsewhere along the frontier, after Israeli forces opened fire “while residents were inspecting” restaurants and cafes in the area.

The NNA also reported Israeli automatic weapons fire toward homes near the town of Shebaa.

In a separate incident on Wednesday, the IDF said it fired warning shots in the Kafr Kila area in southern Lebanon after a group of suspects gathered close to the Israeli border. The suspects withdrew after the shots were fired, the military added.

A November 27 ceasefire deal had halted more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, including two months of all-out war, that was started by the Iran-backed terror group, some of whose supporters on Wednesday hoisted Hezbollah flags in several Lebanese villages near the border following the IDF pullout.

David Azoulay, mayor of the border town of Metula, lambasted the Israeli government, telling Channel 12 news,........

© The Times of Israel