A 25-strong Israeli naval force made a landing on Batroun's shore at dawn Friday and abducted Hezbollah official Imad Fadel Amhaz from a chalet, media reports and security sources said on Saturday.
"Israeli Navy SEALs captured last night Imad Amhaz -- a senior member of Hezbollah's naval force -- in an operation in Northern Lebanon," an Israeli official told U.S. news portal Axios.
"Amhaz was detained in order to interrogate him and learn more about Hezbollah's naval operations," the official added.
An Israeli security source had earlier confirmed to Sky News Arabia that an abduction took place in Batroun, as Israeli newspaper Maariv quoted the Israeli army as confirming that "Israeli forces captured a Hezbollah official deep in Lebanon."
Caretaker Transportation Minister Ali Hamieh told Al-Jadeed TV that the man abducted is a civilian sea captain for civilian and commercial ships, and that he was undergoing a one-month course at a maritime institute in Batroun, where he also rented a chalet.
He graduated in 2022 and in late September joined the Batroun's Maritime Sciences and Technology Institute for additional courses, Hamieh said, adding that that the man lived roughly 300 meters from the institute.
Hamieh's remarks came shortly after two Lebanese journalists posted a video on social media showing what appeared to be about 20 soldiers taking away a man from in front a house, his face covered with his shirt.
Kandice Ardiel, a spokesperson for the U.N. peacekeeping force deployed in south Lebanon, denied allegations by some local journalists who said that the peacekeepers helped the landing force in the operation. The U.N. mission, known as UNIFIL, has a maritime force that monitors the coast.
"Disinformation and false rumors are irresponsible and put peacekeepers at risk,” Ardiel said.
Israel has carried out in the past commando operations deep inside Lebanon to kidnap or kill Hezbollah and Palestinian officials.