Israel kills senior Hezbollah commander in southern Lebanon as full-fledged war looms

An Israeli airstrike killed a senior Hezbollah commander in southern Lebanon on Monday, the terror group confirmed.

Wissam al-Tawil was a senior commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force and played a leading role in the group’s southern activities near the border with Israel. Reuters quoted security officials as saying: “This is a very painful strike” and that “things will flare up now.”

Shortly after the assassination, rocket sirens sounded in northern Israel, just a few hours after two separate anti-tank missiles were fired at Kiryat Shmona and Mount Dov on the Israeli-Lebanese border.

The IDF said its fighter jets struck a Hezbollah military compound in the area of Marwahin, along with a rocket launcher and “terror infrastructure in the area of Ayta ash Shab” overnight.

“Over the past day, an IAF UAV struck a launcher which was used to fire toward Israeli territory, and a helicopter struck in an area from which an anti-tank missile launch was carried out toward Israel,” it added.

Both Israel and Hezbollah have expanded their attacks in recent days, after an Israeli airstrike killed Hamas’ Deputy Political leader Saleh Arouri in Beirut last week.

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant warned Hezbollah that what is happening in Gaza can happen in Lebanon if the group continues to attack Israel.

“They know we can copy and paste to Beirut,” told Wall Street Journal.