The Israel Defense Forces said on Thursday that it was canceling several civilian events in northern Israel after assessing that there was a chance Hezbollah could fire rockets at Israel in retaliation for the killing of the terror group’s Radwan Force commander in Beirut the previous day.

The military also said that Israeli troops stationed in southern Lebanon came under attack by the Iran-backed terror group on Thursday, and Lebanese media reported several killed in Israeli strikes as both sides kept up an exchange of fire despite an ostensible ceasefire intended to keep the conflict on Israel’s northern border at bay.

Of the rockets and drones fired at forces in southern Lebanon, some were shot down while others exploded near the troops, the army said.

It said no injuries were caused by any of the attacks, which Hezbollah has kept up with on a near-daily basis despite the ceasefire agreement signed between Israel and Lebanon at the behest of Washington last month.

The ceasefire in Lebanon has largely fallen by the wayside, as Israel, too, has carried out frequent airstrikes in southern Lebanon, and, on Wednesday, killed the commander of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force, Ahmed Ghaleb Balout, in the first strike on Beirut in almost a month.

Two other senior Hezbollah commanders were also killed in strikes on Wednesday, the IDF said, identifying them as Muhammad Ali Bazi, chief of intelligence in Hezbollah’s Nasr regional division, and Hussein Hassan Romani, head of aerial defense in the terror group.

“These commanders worked to advance and carry out terror attack plans against IDF troops and Israeli citizens,” the military said.

New wave of strikes rocks southern Lebanon

Meanwhile, Lebanese media reported that three people were killed in Israeli strikes across southern Lebanon on Thursday morning.

One person was killed in a strike targeting a car near Maifadoun, and two others were killed in a strike targeting a pickup truck near Habboush, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency.

Hours later, the IDF issued an evacuation warning for the villages of Deir ez-Zahrani, Bfaroueh and Habboush, all in southern Lebanon, ahead of a fresh round of airstrikes that it said were targeting Hezbollah infrastructure.

It warned residents of the three villages to evacuate at least a kilometer (.621 miles) away to ensure that they would not be harmed in the strikes.

The military also confirmed on Thursday that it had carried out strikes in the southern city of Nabatieh, saying it hit Hezbollah’s weapon manufacturing infrastructure and other buildings used by the terror group.

Separately, the IDF said that it struck some........

© The Times of Israel