The senior Hezbollah figure who has been killed in a strike on south Lebanon has been identified as Wissam Tawil, the deputy head of a unit within the group’s elite Radwan force, Reuters news agency reports.
Citing three security sources, Reuters says Tawil 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 says.
Another adds: “Things will flare up now.”
Hezbollah’s leadyer Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has previously warned Israel not to launch a full-scale war on Lebanon.
AFP cites a security source as saying that a top commander with a leading role in managing Hezbollah’s operations has been killed in an “Israeli raid targeting his car in the south”.
We’re still working on getting a fuller picture of the events, but earlier, Lebanon’s state media agency reported injuries following an Israeli drone strike on a Skoda Rapid car at 10:15 local time.
It said the vehicle was on the road in the vicinity of al-Dabsha area in the town of Khirbet Selm, in the Bint Jbeil district.
The strike caused the car to veer off the road and catch fire, it added.
Emergency medical and firefighting teams from the Civil Defense, Islamic Scouts, Red Cross, and other responders promptly arrived at the scene and worked on extinguishing the flames.
Hezbollah Posts Tribute
Hezbollah has posted a series of photographs to Telegram of Wissam Tawil, a senior commander in the group’s elite Radwan force who was killed earlier today.
Included is an image of Tawil shaking hands with Hassan Nasrallah, secretary general of Hezbollah.
Another captures him sitting beside Qasem Soleimani – the former commander the Quds Force, an arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, who was assassinated by US forces in 2020.
