JERUSALEM / BEIRUT- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated on Saturday that the Israeli army has destroyed a significant portion of Hezbollah's missile and rocket capabilities.

In a recorded video address, Netanyahu also said Israeli forces are dismantling the Lebanese group's tunnel system near the border. "While the threat has not been fully eliminated, we have shifted the balance of the conflict," he said. "About a month ago, as we neared the end of dismantling Hamas battalions in Gaza, we began fulfilling the promise I made to the residents of northern Israel."

Netanyahu also took aim at French President Emmanuel Macron, who in a recent radio interview emphasized the need to prioritize a political solution and called for halting the supply of weapons to Israel for its operations in Gaza.

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"President Macron and other Western leaders are now advocating for arms embargoes on Israel. Shame on them," Netanyahu said. "Israel will prevail with or without their support, but their shame will persist long after the war is won," he added.

The Israeli army on Saturday killed a Hamas leader and an official of the Islamic Group in its airstrikes in Lebanon.

An airstrike on a house in the Beddawi camp north of Lebanon's northern city of Tripoli killed Hamas leader Said Atallah Ali and three of his family members, the National News Agency reported.

The raid on the Beddawi camp triggered panic and displacement among camp residents who feared further attacks, according to the report.

A separate Israeli airstrike on the village of al-Rafid, eastern Lebanon, killed an official of the Islamic Group, Ali al-Hajj, according to anonymous Lebanese military sources.

An Israeli drone struck his house in the town of Rashaya al-Wadi in eastern Lebanon with two air-to-ground missiles, killing al-Hajj and destroying his home, said the sources.

The Islamic Group has not commented on the incident.

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The group is an Islamic political organization with a military wing called the al-Fajr Forces, which has recently carried out military operations against the Israeli army.

On Saturday night, Israeli warplanes launched a series of violent raids on Beirut's southern suburbs, local TV channel Al-Jadeed reported.

The targeted areas included Amrousieh, Choueifat, Haret Hreik, and Burj al-Barajneh, it reported, adding that one of the raids hit a place near a fuel station and caused a massive fire.

TV footage showed that the Israeli warplanes continue flying over Beirut.

The news coverage did not mention if there are any casualties involved in the attacks.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah said on Saturday that more than 20 Israelis were killed or injured during clashes from Friday midnight until Saturday morning between groups of the Islamic Resistance and Israeli forces trying to infiltrate a border town in southern Lebanon.

"Elite soldiers of the Israeli enemy army, supported by artillery and air cover, tried to advance from two axes towards the villages of Maroun al-Ras and Yaroun," Hezbollah said in a statement.

"Upon the forces' arrival at the previously prepared ambush points, the Islamic Resistance fighters detonated several explosive devices and clashed with the elite officers and soldiers with light and medium weapons, and rockets from close ranges," Hezbollah added.

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Hezbollah reported that the ambush resulted in several deaths and injuries among the Israeli forces. The movement added that survivors evacuated the dead and wounded under the cover of artillery fire from Israeli positions within the occupied territories.

According to the statement, Hezbollah fighters were "pursuing the Israeli enemy soldiers in their bases and rear barracks along the borderline in the occupied territories with artillery shells and rocket salvos.

A Lebanese military source told Xinhua that an Israeli force of about 25 soldiers penetrated about 200 meters into the eastern outskirts of the villages.

Since Sept 23, the Israeli army has intensified its airstrikes against Hezbollah across Lebanon, resulting in significant civilian casualties and displacing residents from many areas. The airstrikes have also targeted and killed key Hezbollah leaders, including the group's secretary-general, Hassan Nasrallah. In addition, Israel has launched what it describes as a "limited" ground operation in Lebanon.

These escalations have exacerbated ongoing clashes between Israel and Hezbollah, which began on October 8, 2023, when Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel in support of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, prompting retaliatory fire and airstrikes by Israel in southeastern Lebanon.