The Israel Defense Forces announced Friday that 250 Hezbollah terrorists, including nearly two dozen commanders, have been killed since the beginning of its limited ground operation in southern Lebanon. 

“Approximately 250 terrorists have been eliminated by land and air, and more than 2,000 military targets have been attacked, including terrorist elements and facilities, military buildings, weapons depots, missile platforms, and the like,” IDF Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee wrote on X. 

“As part of this operation, the forces were able to eliminate terrorists who were entrenched in buildings and positions adjacent to the separation fence and prevent Hezbollah terrorists from approaching the fence, with the aim of removing the threat to the residents of the north of [Israel],” Adraee continued. 

“During the operation, the forces also found warehouses of combat equipment, missile launchers that were ready to be launched, and Hezbollah explosive devices that the terrorists had left behind,” he added. 

8 ISRAELI SOLDIERS KILLED IN LEBANON AS NETANYAHU SAYS IDF ENGAGED IN ‘TOUGH WAR’ WITH HEZBOLLAH 

Among the Hezbollah terrorists that have been killed are five battalion commanders, 10 company commanders and six platoon commanders, according to the IDF. 

The announcement comes as the IDF said Friday that two of its soldiers have died “during combat in northern Israel.” 

ISRAELI MILITARY SAYS REGULAR INFANTRY, ARMORED UNITS JOINING LIMITED GROUND OPERATION IN SOUTHERN LEBANON 

Heavy smoke billows from an Israeli airstrike on an area between the Lebanese southern border villages of Kfarkela and Aadaysit Marjaayoun on Oct. 2. (Stringer/Stringer/dpa via Getty Images)

On Wednesday, the IDF said eight troops were killed during fighting in southern Lebanon. 

“I would like to send my deepest condolences to the families of our heroes who fell today in Lebanon,” Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video message. “May God avenge their death. May their memory be of blessing.”  

An IDF profile picture showing Hezbollah terror chief Hassan Nasrallah who the IDF confirmed was killed in an airstrike last Friday. (IDF Spokesman’s Unit)

“We are in the middle of a tough war against Iran’s axis of evil, which seeks to destroy us. This will not happen — because we will stand together, and with God’s help — we will win together,” Netanyahu added. “We will return our hostages in the south, we will return our residents in the north, we will guarantee the eternity of Israel.” 

Fox News’ Yael Rotem-Kuriel contributed to this report.  

Morocco slams ECJ ruling that said the people of Western Sahara were not consulted before the 2019 deals were signed.

The European Union’s top court has confirmed an earlier ruling cancelling trade deals that allow Morocco to export fish and farm products to the EU from the disputed Western Sahara region, a move Morocco slammed as “blatant political bias”.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) on Friday ruled that the European Commission breached the right of people in Western Sahara to self-determination by concluding trade deals with Morocco.

The Commission said it would examine the ECJ judgement in detail, while Morocco condemned it.

The ruling contained legal errors and “suspicious factual mistakes”, Morocco’s foreign ministry said in a statement, urging the European Council, the Commission and member states to uphold their commitments and preserve the assets of the partnership with Morocco.

Western Sahara, a tract of desert the size of Britain, has been the scene of Africa’s longest-running territorial dispute since colonial power Spain left in 1975 and Morocco annexed the territory.

The Algerian-backed Polisario Front, which seeks an independent state in Western Sahara, hailed the verdict as an “historic victory” for the area’s Sahrawi people.

Friday’s decision is the final ruling after several appeals by the Commission, the EU’s executive arm. The bloc signed fishing and agriculture agreements with Morocco in 2019 that also covered products from the Western Sahara.

“The consent of the people of Western Sahara to the implementation … is a condition for the validity of the decisions by which the [EU] Council approved those agreements on behalf of the European Union,” the court said.

It said a consultation process that took place had not involved “the people of Western Sahara but the inhabitants who are currently present in that territory, irrespective of whether or not they belong to the people of Western Sahara”.

The court also ruled that melons and tomatoes produced in Western Sahara must now have their origin labelled as such.

“Labelling must indicate Western Sahara alone as the country of origin of those goods, to the exclusion of any reference to Morocco, so as to avoid misleading consumers,” it said.

‘Historic victory’

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said the European Commission was analysing the ruling and reiterated that the bloc highly valued its “long-standing, wide-ranging and deep” strategic partnership with Morocco.

“The EU firmly intends to preserve and continue strengthening close relations with Morocco,” she said in a joint statement with EU foreign affairs boss Josep Borrell.

Welcoming the ECJ ruling, Oubi Bouchraya, the Polisario’s representative to the United Nations in Switzerland, said, “It is a historic victory for the Sahrawi people that confirms the wrongdoings of the EU and Morocco and confirms the permanent sovereignty of the Sahrawi people over their natural resources,” the Reuters news agency reported.

“It is the most eloquent response to the last unilateral position of France and others,” Bouchraya added.

Western powers, including the United States in 2020, and most recently France, have backed Morocco’s sovereignty over the territory, angering Algeria.

Thousands of Sahrawi refugees have been stuck in limbo, living in desert camps in Tindouf, Algeria.

The UN brokered a ceasefire in 1991 ending a war between Morocco and the Polisario, but failed to organise a referendum due to disagreements about who should vote.

In its recent resolutions, the UN Security Council has urged the parties to seek a mutually acceptable political solution to the conflict.