A senior Hezbollah commander was killed in an Israeli drone strike on his car in southern Lebanon, a Lebanese security official said on Monday, as fears of a wider regional conflict escalate.
The official, Wissam Tawil, is the most senior member of the Shiite militant group to be killed in an Israeli strike since Hezbollah and Israel began trading fire across the Lebanese-Israeli border on October 8, the day after Hamas carried out the deadliest terror attack in Israel’s history.
In a statement, Hezbollah also acknowledged the death of Tawil, who also went by the nom de guerre Hajj Jawad, in an Israeli attack.
The paramilitary group shared pictures of him alongside other top Hezbollah officials and Qasem Soleimani, the former commander of the Iranian elite unit that handles the country’s overseas operations who was killed in a US airstrike four years ago, an apparent indication of Tawil’s stature.
The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken met the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud. This is the latest visit on his mission in the Middle East.
He started Monday with a UAE visit and is due to travel to Israel shortly. Blinken is there to try to de-escalate tensions and avoid a wider regional conflict.
Tawil’s killing comes days after Saleh Al-Arouri, the deputy head of the political bureau of Hamas, and three others died in a strike on an office building in Beirut, the Lebanese capital. Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack.
Hezbollah on Saturday launched a rocket barrage against an airbase in northern Israel as part of a “preliminary response” into Arouri’s killing, which was followed by more intense cross-border fighting between the two sides.
Israel on Monday morning struck Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon after the group fired an anti-tank missile toward the city of Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel, the IDF said. The Lebanese militant group has been launching its own salvos against Israel, the Hezbollah-owned Al Manar news outlet reported.
Tawil’s death is the latest incident to fuel concerns that the October 7 terror attack against Israel is now spiraling into a wider regional conflagration.
“This is a moment of profound tension in the region,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday during his visit to the Middle East. “This is a conflict that could easily metastasize, causing even more insecurity and even more suffering.”
Israel first responded by declaring war on Hamas and launching a military operation in Gaza that has left nearly 23,000 people dead, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
Both the ministry in Gaza and its counterpart in the occupied West Bank suggest that approximately 70% of those killed or injured are women and children. Israel says more than 8,000 of the dead are militants it is targeting in its war on Hamas.
Further south, Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have fired rockets at Israel and launched more than 100 attacks against about a dozen commercial and merchant ships transiting the Red Sea over the past few weeks, threatening one of the world’s most vital commercial sea routes.
On the northern border with Lebanon, fear is growing that what was once tit-for-tat strikes between Israel and Hezbollah forces in a four-kilometer range of the border region could spiral further.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited troops stationed in Kiryat Shmona said the country “will do everything to restore security.”
“We will do whatever it takes. Of course, we prefer that this be done without a wide campaign, but that will not stop us,” he said.
Netanyahu hinted that the IDF could engage in a wider military campaign as it has in Gaza, saying that Israel gave Hezbollah “an example of what is happening to their friends in the south, this is what will happen here in the north.”
By Agencies
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