A prominent Hezbollah operative in the terror group’s air defense array, who was reportedly blinded in Israel’s so-called pager attack last year, was killed in a drone strike in southern Lebanon on Monday, the military said.

Hassan Atwi was killed alongside his wife, Zainab Raslan, in a strike targeting their car in Zebdine, on the outskirts of Nabatieh.

The IDF said Atwi was a “significant source of knowledge” in Hezbollah, and led efforts to rebuild infrastructure and procure equipment for the air defense array. The military says he also maintained contacts with Iranian officials who supplied Hezbollah with air defense systems.

According to Lebanese media, Atwi was blind due to the exploding pager attack that targeted Hezbollah members last year.

Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that the couple had two sons killed during the 2023-24 Israel-Hezbollah conflict.

The IDF said Atwi’s activities “constituted a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” and his killing was a blow to Hezbollah’s efforts to re-establish itself.

Separately on Monday, the IDF said it carried out airstrikes in Lebanon’s eastern Beqaa Valley, saying it targeted several Hezbollah military camps where operatives were gathered.

The Hezbollah sites were used by the terror group’s elite Radwan Force for training and planning attacks against Israel and IDF troops, the military said.

“The storage of weapons and carrying out military training against the State of Israel by Hezbollah terrorists constitutes a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon and a threat to the State of Israel,” the IDF added.

Immediately after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that triggered the Gaza war, Hezbollah began launching rockets at Israel in support of its Palestinian ally, sparking an over-year-long conflict in which much of the terror group’s leadership was killed.

The Israel-Hezbollah war ended with a ceasefire on November 27, 2024, which required Hezbollah to hand over weapons in southern Lebanon to the Lebanese state. Israel has since accused the group of violating the agreement and has conducted dozens of intermittent strikes on Hezbollah positions.

The ceasefire also stipulated that Israeli forces withdraw from southern Lebanon within 60 days, but Israel continues to control five strategic points despite Lebanese calls for a full pullout.

Weakened by the war and still facing regular Israeli strikes despite the truce, Hezbollah is now under internal and international pressure to hand over its weapons, with the Lebanese army having drawn up a plan to disarm it.

The Lebanese government, under intense US and Israeli pressure, is set to discuss on Monday the army’s first monthly report on its plan to disarm the group.

Agencies contributed to this report.