An Israeli airstrike has killed an elite Hezbollah commander in southern Lebanon on Monday. Israel-Lebanon border tensions escalated since a Hamas senior leader was killed in an airstrike in Beirut last week.
The strike on an SUV killed a commander in a secretive Hezbollah force that operates along the border, according to a Lebanese security official. Hezbollah identified the slain fighter as Wissam al-Tawil without providing details.
Wissam al-Tawil was the senior militant in the armed group. The commander "had a leading role in managing Hezbollah's operations in the south", a security official told AFP.
The killing of the senior commander in Hezbollah's elite Radwan force is a "painful" blow for the terror group, reported The Times of Israel.
Israel is also carrying out an unprecedented wave of deadly strikes in Syria targeting cargo trucks, infrastructure and people involved in Iran's weapons lifeline. Four people were killed in late December in a strike on buildings and trucks being used by Iran-aligned militia groups along Syria's eastern border with Iraq.
Hezbollah's secretary-general Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned Israel in two televised addresses last week not to launch a full-scale war on Lebanon. "Whoever thinks of war with us - in one word, he will regret it," Nasrallah said.
Hezbollah on Saturday said it had hit a key Israeli observation post with 62 rockets as a "preliminary response" to Arouri's killing. Deputy Hamas chief Saleh al-Arouri was killed by Israel last week.
Hezbollah has been carrying out attacks against Israel since October 8, a day after Hamas attack. Israel airstrikes on the Lebanese side of the border has killed at least 151 Hezbollah members so far.
A total of 23,084 Palestinians have been killed so far amid Isral-Hamas war. As many as 58,926 people were reported to be injured by the Gaza Health Ministry.
