Israel killed a top Hezbollah commander today, following a strike in Beirut that authorities said killed seven people.
A Lebanese security source and a Hezbollah source told the AFP news agency that the commander, Youssef Hashem, had been responsible for the group’s military affairs in Iraq and was in a meeting inside a tent when Israel struck.
Israel’s military said Hashem was Hezbollah’s commander for its south Lebanon front.
Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war in early March when the Tehran-backed Hezbollah launched rockets towards Israel to avenge a US-Israeli attack that killed Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Israel has responded with massive strikes across Lebanon and a ground offensive.
A source close to Hezbollah said Hashem is ‘the highest-ranking official to be targeted since the start of the war’.
Another Hezbollah member, Mohammad Baqir al-Nabulsi, was also killed in the strike on the Beirut area of Jnah, the group said.
