Israeli strike kills top Hezbollah commander in south

Israel killed Monday a top commander from Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Forces in a strike in south Lebanon, adding to fears the conflict in Gaza could spill over.

The commander, Wissam Tawil, was killed in an Israeli raid targeting his Honda SUV in the southern village of Khirbet Selm, which lies around 15 kilometers away from the border.

Al-Tawil "had a leading role in managing Hezbollah's operations in the south," a security official said requesting anonymity for security concerns.

The commander held several other top positions in the Shiite movement, the official said.

Hezbollah later announced the killing of a "commander" for the first time, naming him as Wissam Hassan Tawil. It said he died "on the road to Jerusalem" -- the phrase used for fighters killed by Israel.

Tawil was the highest-ranking Hezbollah member to be killed since the group and Israel began exchanging near-daily cross-border fire after the Israel-Hamas war broke out on October 7.

The killing of Hamas's deputy leader in Beirut last week has raised fears of a wider conflagration.

Saleh al-Arouri, killed in a missile strike widely attributed to Israel, was the most high-profile Hamas figure to die during the war, in the first attack on Beirut since the fighting began.

On Friday, Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned Israel his fighters would respond swiftly to Arouri's killing. The group claimed an attack on an Israeli air control base the next day.

On Saturday, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell met Mohammed Raad, head of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc, in Beirut as part of a push to avoid Lebanon being dragged into the Israel-Hamas conflict.

In November, Raad's son was killed in an Israeli strike in south Lebanon along with five other fighters, the group had said.

Nearly three months of cross-border fire have killed more than 180 people in Lebanon, including over 135 Hezbollah fighters, but also more than 20 civilians including three journalists, according to an AFP tally.

In northern Israel, nine soldiers and at least four civilians have been killed, according to Israeli authorities.