Hezbollah said on Monday that one of its leaders was killed in a strike in southern Lebanon, raising fears that Israel's war against the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in Gaza could turn into a broader regional war.
The killing of the commander, whom Hezbollah identified as Wissam Hassan al-Tawil, came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited forces near the border with Lebanon and pledged that Israel “will do everything in its power to restore security in the north,” according to what Reuters reported. “. library.
Hezbollah, based in Lebanon, and Israel have exchanged intense and deadly fire across the border since the war between Israel and Hamas began three months ago, sparking Israeli warnings of a full-scale war. Six days ago, an airstrike in Beirut — attributed to Israel, like the one on Monday — killed a senior Hamas official who served as a liaison with Hezbollah and the groups' common patron, Iran.
US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, will visit leaders in the Middle East this week on a trip aimed at preventing the fighting from expanding on other fronts. He arrived in Tel Aviv on Monday evening.
A Lebanese security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, said that Mr. Tawil was a commander in Hezbollah's Radwan unit, which Israel says aims to infiltrate its northern border. The official said Mr. Tawil was killed in an Israeli raid on Khirbet Selm, a village in southern Lebanon about nine miles from the Israeli border.
The Israeli army did not comment directly on the attack. It said in a statement that an Israeli fighter plane carried out “a series of strikes” that hit a Hezbollah military site, without providing further details.
Mr. Tawil's role in Hezbollah was not immediately clear. But in an apparent attempt to signal his seniority, Al-Manar, a Lebanese channel owned by Hezbollah, and media outlets controlled by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, published photos of him alongside several senior Hezbollah officials including the group's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, as well as… The case with Qassem Soleimani, the Iranian general who was killed in a US drone strike in 2020.
A day earlier, the Israeli army said that it had killed at least seven Hezbollah members in raids aimed at destroying the Radwan unit, and that it was ready to attack more members. Hezbollah's positions. The IDF Chief of Staff, Lieutenant-General Herzl Halevy, said that his forces are determined to maintain pressure on Hezbollah, and if these efforts fail, Israel is ready to fight “another war.”
He added: “We will create a completely different reality, or we will enter into another war.” He said on Sunday.
Hezbollah attacks damaged an Israeli military base on Saturday, in one of the group's largest attacks against Israel during months of successive cross-border attacks. The powerful Lebanese militia has pledged to support Hamas and, in recent days, has intensified its attacks on Israel in response to the killing last week of Saleh al-Arouri, a senior Hamas leader, outside Beirut.
Rocket fire at the base, the Northern Air Control Unit on Mount Meron, caused severe damage to it, according to accounts in Israeli news media, but the facility remains operational “and has been reinforced with additional systems,” Adm. Hans said. Daniel Hagari, the IDF's chief spokesman, said Sunday.
The clashes increased fears that the war between Israel and Hamas would develop into a broader regional conflict, and forced tens of thousands of people on both sides of the Israeli-Lebanese border to evacuate their communities. In solidarity with Hamas, the Iranian-backed Houthi militia in Yemen attacked ships in the Red Sea and fired missiles at Israel. The United States struck targets in Iraq, while Israel supposedly carried out targeted assassinations in Syria and Lebanon.
Israeli leaders have repeatedly declared in recent weeks that there are only two options to restore calm in the conflict with Hezbollah: a diplomatic solution that would move Radwan's forces away from the border, north of the Litani River; Or, failing that, a major Israeli military attack aimed at achieving the same goal.
They say calm is a prerequisite for the approximately 80,000 Israelis evacuated from the area to be able to return to their homes. A similar number of Lebanese fled their homes on the other side of the border.
“Hezbollah is dragging Lebanon into a completely unnecessary war,” Elon Levy, Israeli government spokesman, told reporters on Monday.
He added: “We are now at a crossroads.” “Either Hezbollah will back down, as we hope as part of a diplomatic solution, or we will push it away.”
The Biden administration is calling for an agreement that would remove Hezbollah forces from the border, but with little progress. Although Israeli officials have said time is running out to reach a diplomatic agreement, analysts say Israel is concerned about significantly expanding the conflict with Hezbollah while the army remains engaged in intense fighting in Gaza.
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