Israeli strike kills senior Hezbollah commander

An Israeli strike on southern Lebanon on Monday killed a senior commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force.

“With greater pride and honour the Islamic Resistance mourns the martyr Commander Wissam Hassan Tawil," a Hezbollah statement said.

A security source told Reuters the killing was a “very painful strike”.

Tawil, commonly known as Hajj Jawad, was from the southern Lebanese town of Khirbet Salam, where he was killed.

A Hezbollah source said a bomb struck his car as he was driving through the town. No one was in the vehicle with him, the source added.

More than 150 Hezbollah fighters have been killed in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon since cross-border clashes began after Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7.

Tawil’s killing comes as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken shuttles between Middle Eastern capitals on his latest trip to the region.

Blinken has spoken of the need to contain the conflict in Gaza, after Israel repeatedly struck targets in Lebanon and Syria.

Hezbollah launched retaliatory strikes on Israel over the killing of Hamas deputy commander Al Arouri. – The National News