Hezbollah tonight claimed to have destroyed six Israeli Merkava tanks in southern Lebanon, five of them near the strategically important coastal city of Bayadah.

Hezbollah fighters “destroyed” five tanks “in the eastern outskirts of the city of Bayada” while another was destroyed in the area of ​​Deir Mimas, about 2.5 kilometers from the border with Israel.

Lebanon’s national news agency ANI reported heavy fighting in many areas of the southern border while “a convoy of 30 Israeli military vehicles retreats» from Bayada to Tair Harfa, further south, after Hezbollah destroyed the tanks.

Also according to ANI, “Israeli ground operation in Hiam accelerates”a town near the border, after last night’s “difficult” fighting.

Hezbollah also said it fired four barrages of rockets at Israeli soldiers east of Hiam, which Israel considers “strategic gateway facilitating rapid land advance».

Deir Mimas Mayor Georges Nakad told ANI that Israeli forces set up a “checkpoint” between Qalaa and his own community where about twenty people were trapped. Among them was a pregnant woman.

In addition, an Israeli strike interrupted traffic between the city of Marjayoun and Nabatiya, in the south.