Senior Hezbollah commander killed in Israeli strike in southern Lebanon

Shafaq News/ A Hezbollah military leader was killed on Wednesday in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a civilian car in the Al-Hosh area, east of Lebanon's southwestern city Tyre, Lebanese military sources told Xinhua.

The sources, who spoke anonymously, said that an Israeli drone fired two air-to-surface missiles at the car, burning the vehicle, and killing its driver and his companion.

The sources said that the driver was identified as a commander of a military unit in Hezbollah whose nickname was Hajj Abu Ni'mah. He came from the village of Haddatha in southern Lebanon and worked at the borderline in the western and central sectors of the southern border area.

Hezbollah has not yet commented on the incident.

The military sources said that Israel also launched three airstrikes on villages and towns in southern Lebanon and fired about 30 shells at five border villages and towns.

Tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border escalated on Oct. 8, 2023, following a barrage of rockets launched by Hezbollah toward Israel in solidarity with Hamas' attack on Israel the day before. Israel then retaliated by firing heavy artillery toward southeastern Lebanon.

The level of tension between Hezbollah and the Israeli army has escalated recently, as the Israeli military announced "its approval of operational plans for an attack on Lebanon."

Meanwhile, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned that no place in Israel "will be safe" from his party's missiles in the event of an outbreak of war.