An Israeli strike on south Lebanon on Monday killed a senior commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force, three security sources told Reuters.

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 the Lebanese village of Majdal Selm.

“This is a very painful strike,” one of the security sources said. Another said, “things will flare up now.”

Israeli bombardment has killed more than 130 Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon since cross-border shelling began in the aftermath of Hamas’s attack on Israeli territory on Oct. 7. Another 19 have been killed in Syria.

Hezbollah’s secretary-general Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned Israel in two televised addresses last week not to launch a full-scale war on Lebanon.

  • steventhedev@lemmy.worldEnglish
    174·
    6 months ago

    Israeli strikes in Lebanon are against Hezbollah fighters who are launching ATGM, mortars, or other munitions into Israel. This particular incident is exceptional in two ways:

    1. This is a relatively senior ranking member who was killed (number 3 in the Radwan Force)
    2. This appears to have been an attack of opportunity rather than a retaliatory strike

    Reuters did a shit job on background context here. It took me 20 minutes half paying attention to a meeting that should have been an email to dig this up:

    • Hezbollah has launched 565 coordinated attacks (usually barrages against multiple targets along the border) on Israeli territory resulting in 4 civilian and 12 military fatalities and many more injured.
    • Due to the ongoing attacks, over 80,000 Israelis are internally displaced, and all the villages within 4km of the border have been evacuated.
    • Hezbollah were required to demilitarize and disarm as a consequence of binding UN Security Council resolution 1701 from 2006.
    • The Radwan force are a group within Hezbollah whose mission is to infiltrate into Israel and commit massacres against civilians.
    • Hezbollah is a terrorist organization designated as such by the US, UK, Canada, EU, and many other countries.
    • hydrospanner@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      6 months ago

      While I won’t touch the subject matter with a ten foot pole, since I have a take that neither side likes…

      It took me 20 minutes half paying attention to a meeting that should have been an email

      Christ on a bike, I felt that one in my bones!