Israeli strike on South Lebanon
A senior commander in Hezbollah's elite Radwan force was killed in an Israeli strike on South Lebanon, three security sources told Reuters on Monday.
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Lebanese media reported that an "Israeli drone" struck a car in the Lebanese village of Majdal Selm in South Lebanon about 10 kilometers from the Israel-Lebanon border, killing two people.
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 Majdal Selm.
In an official statement, Hezbollah labeled Tawil a "commander," also known as "Hajj Jawad." The group announced he died as a "martyr on the path to Jerusalem," a designation Hezbollah uses for its fallen since the war began on October 7.
According to Arab reports, Tawil was a field commander. Saudi channel Al Hadath reported that he led Hezbollah's 800th Infantry Unit in Syria and recently the Radwan force's 122nd Unit. Israel has not acknowledged the strike.
Syrian opposition sources claim Tawil fought in rural Aleppo and Eastern Syria for years, frequently traveling between Lebanon and Syria.
He's related to Hassan Nasrallah through marriage and is the brother of Fadi and Qasim Tawil, both Hezbollah members who were killed. His uncle, Hani Tawil, was killed in Syria last October.
A Lebanese security source told French news agency AFP that the Hezbollah officer had a "leading role in directing operations in South Lebanon."
"This is a very painful strike," one of the security sources said. Another said, "things will flare up now." Hezbollah has lost more than 150 fighters in Israeli shelling on southern Lebanon since cross-border bombardment began in the aftermath of Hamas's rampage in Israeli territory on Oct. 7.
Earlier on Monday, the IDF struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. The IDF didn't confirm the attack on the car attributed to Israel by Lebanese sources. In the morning, an anti-tank missile was fired from Lebanon toward the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona, causing damage but no casualties. In retaliation, IDF forces struck targets within Lebanon.
The Al-Tawil's killing comes less than a week after the assassination of Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri in an airstrike in the heart of Beirut's Dahieh District, considered Hezbollah's base of operations. The Shiite terrorist group blamed the attack on Israel and vowed retaliation.
Hezbollah Secretary-General 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.