The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) conducted numerous operations throughout Lebanon against Hezbollah between May 12 and May 18, 2025. The IDF’s activities last week included targeted strikes on Hezbollah operatives, including one regional commander.
The IDF conducted operations in 16 Lebanese locales during the week, some more than once. The activities were primarily concentrated south of the Litani River, but several also targeted Hezbollah north of the waterway. Eleven areas were hit by airstrikes, two were hit by artillery fire, and three experienced ground actions. Additionally, the IDF fired flares and smokescreens over one area.
Nabatieh Governorate
- Bint Jbeil District: Ayta Ash Shaab, Beit Yahoun, Maroun Al Ras, and Shaqra
- Hasbaya: Shebaa-Al Sadana
- Marjayoun District: Adaisseh, Houla, and Kfar Kela
- Nabatieh: Arnoun-Yohmor and Qaaqaaiyet Al Jisr
South Lebanon Governorate
- Saida District: Zrariyeh
- Tyre District: Alma Al Shaab-Lahlah, Dhayra, Jwaya, Naqoura, and Yarine
Casualties
Total casualties from Israeli operations in Lebanon reached four people killed, all Hezbollah operatives, and two people wounded—one of whom was not identified and the other is an LAF soldier.
- May 12, 2025: No casualties were reported.
- May 13, 2025: One Hezbollah operative was killed.
- May 14, 2025: One Hezbollah operative was killed.
- May 15, 2025: One Hezbollah operative was killed.
- May 16, 2025: No casualties were reported.
- May 17, 2025: One Hezbollah commander was killed.
- May 18, 2025: Two people were wounded, including an LAF soldier.
Chronology of Israeli operations against Hezbollah, May 12–May 18, 2025
May 12
- At 10:56 pm, NNA Lebanon reported that Israeli troops from the Labbouneh outpost inside south Lebanon raised defensive earthen barriers within Lebanese territory on the outskirts of Alma Al Shaab in the South Lebanon Governorate’s Tyre District. Two Merkava tanks, accompanied by five military vehicles and two bulldozers, reportedly entered the area of Lahlah to raise the defensive barriers approximately 100 meters from a nearby Lebanese army post.
May 13
- At 1:10 pm, NNA Lebanon reported that an Israeli drone targeted a motorbike in the Tayri Pond area in Houla in the Nabatieh Governorate’s Marjayoun District. The strike killed one person. Hezbollah-affiliated sources later revealed the fatality was Hezbollah operative Musa Ali Aboud, whose nom de guerre was Abu Al Fadl, from Houla.
- At 3:33 pm, NNA Lebanon reported that an Israeli drone targeted an excavator in Jwaya in the South Lebanon Governorate’s Tyre District.
- At 5:20 pm, NNA Lebanon reported that an Israeli quadcopter dropped a stun grenade on the public school of Dhayra in the South Lebanon Governorate’s Tyre District.
- At 7:34 pm, NNA Lebanon reported that Israeli troops directed gunfire at the wooded areas outside of Ayta Ash Shaab and Rmeish in the Nabatieh Governorate’s Bint Jbeil District.
- At 8:18 pm, NNA Lebanon reported that an Israeli drone targeted a vehicle in the town of Shaqra in the Nabatieh Governorate’s Bint Jbeil District. However, the missile did not explode, and the driver survived.
May 14
- At 8:17 am, NNA Lebanon reported that an Israeli drone targeted a vehicle in Qaaqaaiyet Al Jisr in the Nabatieh Governorate’s Nabatieh District, killing one person. At 1:32 pm, Hezbollah-affiliated social media accounts announced the death of Hezbollah operative Hussain Neemeh Melhem, whose nom de guerre was Shamran, from the village of Qabrikha. At 2:08 pm, the IDF released a statement saying it had targeted and killed “an operative from the Hezbollah terrorist organization who acted as the commander of the organization’s Qabrikha complex.”
- At 11:06 pm, NNA Lebanon reported that Israeli troops directed gunfire from the Tel Al Aoueidah Post in south Lebanon toward Maroun Al Ras in the Nabatieh Governorate’s Bint Jbeil District.
May 15
- At 8:25 pm, NNA Lebanon reported that after midnight, an Israeli Apache helicopter targeted a prefabricated home belonging to Hezbollah’s “Wa Taawanu” NGO in Houla in the Nabatieh Governorate’s Marjayoun District.
- At 10:28 am, NNA Lebanon reported an Israeli airstrike on a prefabricated structure in Adaisseh in the Nabatieh Governorate’s Marjayoun District.
- At 11:20 am, NNA Lebanon reported that an Israeli quadcopter dropped a stun grenade on the school in Dhayra in the South Lebanon Governorate’s Tyre District.
- At 11:45 am, NNA Lebanon reported that an Israeli drone dropped a stun grenade on a home in Kfar Kela in the Nabatieh Governorate’s Marjayoun District.
- At 3:48 pm, NNA Lebanon reported an Israeli airstrike on a bulldozer in the valley between Yohmor and Arnoun in the Nabatieh Governorate’s Nabatieh District. The strike killed one person. Hezbollah-affiliated social media accounts later announced the strike had killed Hezbollah operative Mohammad Ali Marouni, whose nom de guerre was Ammar, from the village of Arnoun in south Lebanon. At 7:36 pm, the IDF announced that it had targeted and killed “a Hezbollah terrorist near Arnoun who was involved in attempts to rebuild the group’s infrastructure in the area.”
- At 6:06 pm, NNA Lebanon reported that Israeli artillery fired eight shells at Al Sadana Hill, on the outskirts of Shebaa, in the Nabatieh Governorate’s Hasbaya District.
- At 9:39 pm, NNA Lebanon reported that Israeli artillery targeted prefabricated structures in Ayta Ash Shaab in the Nabatieh Governorate’s Bint Jbeil District.
- At 10:02 pm, NNA Lebanon reported that Israeli artillery again shelled prefabricated structures in Ayta Ash Shaab.
May 16
- At 3:22 pm, NNA Lebanon reported that Israeli forces fired smokescreen shells over Adaisseh in the Nabatieh Governorate’s Marjayoun District.
May 17
- At 8:20 am, NNA Lebanon reported that an Israeli drone conducted two airstrikes on a hangar in the Mafraq neighborhood in Ayta Al Shaab in the Nabatieh Governorate’s Bint Jbeil District.
- At 8:52 am, NNA Lebanon reported an Israeli airstrike on a vehicle in Wadi Khalil on the road to Zrariyeh in the South Lebanon Governorate’s Saida District. The strike killed one person. Hezbollah later declared that one of its commanders, Mahdi Ahmad Al Tamer, whose nom de guerre was Sajed, had been killed in the strike. At 12:03 pm, the IDF identified Tamer as a “commander in Hezbollah’s Shqif Command, who was involved in attempts to rebuild the group’s infrastructure in the area” where he was killed, noting that “rebuilding terrorist infrastructure and operating from them constitute a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”
- At 9:37 am, NNA Lebanon reported that Israeli airstrikes targeted a prefabricated structure and a cement factory in Yarine in the South Lebanon Governorate’s Tyre District.
- At 10:34 am, NNA Lebanon reported that an Israeli quadcopter dropped an explosive on a tractor in the town of Dhayra in the south Lebanon Governorate’s Tyre District.
- At 12:10 pm, NNA Lebanon reported that an Israeli drone dropped a stun explosive near several fishermen on the coast of Naqoura in the South Lebanon Governorate’s Tyre District.
- At 3:12 pm, NNA Lebanon reported that an Israeli quadcopter dropped three stun explosives near a destroyed house in Kfar Kela in the Nabatieh Governorate’s Marjayoun District.
May 18
- At 12:30 pm, NNA Lebanon reported that an Israeli airstrike targeted a vehicle in the town of Beit Yahoun in the Nabatieh Governorate’s Bint Jbeil District. The strike wounded two people, one of whom the Lebanese Health Ministry says was a Lebanese Armed Forces soldier.
- At 8:13 pm, NNA Lebanon reported that Israeli troops positioned near Metulla in Israel fired upon a vehicle in Kfar Kela in the Nabatieh Governorate’s Marjayoun District.
- At 9:33 pm, NNA Lebanon reported that Israeli troops fired illuminating flares over Shebaa in the Nabatieh Governorate’s Hasbaya District.
