An Israeli strike on south Lebanon on Monday killed a senior commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force, three security sources told Reuters.
The security sources identified him as Wissam al-Tawil, the deputy head of a unit within the Radwan force. They said he and another Hezbollah fighter were killed when their car was hit in a strike on the Lebanese village of Majdal Selm.
“This is a very painful strike,” one of the security sources said. Another said, “things will flare up now.”
Israeli bombardment has killed more than 130 Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon since cross-border shelling began in the aftermath of Hamas’s attack on Israeli territory on Oct. 7. Another 19 have been killed in Syria.
Read More: Hezbollah leader warns Israel against waging war on Lebanon
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.
Earlier, an Israeli drone struck a Hamas office in the southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital Beirut, killing six people including Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri.
Saleh al-Arouri, who embraced martyrdom in the attack, was a founding member of the armed wing of Hamas.
