Hezbollah has traded near daily cross-border fire with the Israeli army since its Palestinian ally Hamas attacked southern Israel on Oct 7, triggering war in Gaza, but a recent uptick in bellicose rhetoric from both sides has raised fears of all-out war.
“A Hezbollah commander responsible for one of three sectors in south Lebanon was killed” in an “Israeli strike on a car in Tyre”, a source close to the group told AFP, requesting anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media.
The Iran-backed group said that “commander Mohammed Naameh Nasser”, also known as “Hajj Abu Naameh” was killed in the strike, and also announced the death of a second fighter.
The Israeli army said that it “eliminated” Nasser, saying he was the commander of Hezbollah’s “Aziz Unit which is responsible for firing from southwestern Lebanon at Israeli territory”.
Hezbollah said that “as part of the response” to Nasser’s killing, its fighters attacked two positions in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights “with 100 Katyusha rockets”.
Also in retaliation, it said it fired “dozens of Katyusha rockets” at one of the positions, and “Falaq rockets” and heavy duty Burkan missiles at two military sites in northern Israel.
An Israeli military spokesperson told AFP that about 100 rocket launches had been made towards Israel from Lebanon.
A separate Israeli army statement said emergency services were “operating to extinguish a number of fires” caused by one of the attacks, in northern Israel’s Kiryat Shmona area.
