Senior Hezbollah commander killed in Israeli airstrike: Official

An Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon on Monday killed a top Hezbollah commander as Israeli tensions with the militant group continue to rise.

Hezbollah said in a statement posted on Telegram the strike killed Wissam Hassan Tawil, known as “Al-Haj Jawad.”

The strike hit near the town of Khirbet Selem in southern Lebanon, according to Hezbollah.

State-run Lebanese media outlet National News Agency reported the drone strike hit a vehicle near the town at 10:15 a.m. local time.

There was no immediate comment from Israel on the strike, but the Israeli military said fighter jets struck several Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, including military sites, on Monday.

Tawil was a commander of a unit in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan ground force, a special forces group under the military. His reported death marks the highest-ranking Hezbollah official killing since conflict erupted with Israel in early October.

Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has escalated in recent weeks amid the war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza. Both Hamas and Hezbollah are backed by Iran.

Last week, Israel killed a senior Hamas official in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, in an assassination that provoked a fiery response from Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who vowed to take revenge for the attack.

Since Israel took the fight to Gaza to defeat Hamas, Hezbollah has traded near-daily fire with Israel over the border. A broader war between Israel and Hezbollah has yet to break out, but conflict across the Middle East is threatening to spiral out of control as the attacks continue. The U.S. is also fighting against Iranian-backed groups in Iraq, Syria and the Red Sea.

More than 100 Hezbollah fighters have reportedly died since Israel and Hezbollah began trading deadly fire over the border.

Monday’s strike against Tawil came after Hezbollah targeted an Israeli air traffic control base over the weekend, which was one of its largest attacks on Israeli soil since the conflict began.

Israel warned of “another war” if Hezbollah did not let up on its attacks on Israel.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is visiting the region this week and said the war should be prevented from spreading further. After meeting with Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Blinken said the war “could easily metastasize, causing even more insecurity and even more suffering.”

“So from day one, among other priorities, we have been intensely focused on working to prevent the conflict from spreading, and that is indeed a major focus of what is now my fourth visit to the region since Oct. 7,” he said.

Updated at 9:18 a.m. ET