BEIRUT: An Israeli airstrike killed an elite Hezbollah commander in southern Lebanon on Monday, the latest in an escalating exchange of strikes along the border that have raised fears of another Mideast war even as the fighting in Gaza exacts a mounting toll on civilians.
The strike on an SUV killed a commander in a secretive Hezbollah force that operates along the border, according to a Lebanese security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity according to regulations. Hezbollah identified the slain fighter as Wissam al-Tawil without providing details.
He is the most senior militant in the armed group to have been killed since Hamas' Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel triggered all-out war in Gaza and lower-intensity fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which has escalated since an Israeli strike killed a senior Hamas leader in Beirut last week.
Tawil "had a leading role in managing Hezbollah's operations in the south", the security official said, requesting anonymity for security reasons.
The official added that the commander, who held several other top positions in the group, "was killed in an Israeli strike targeting his car in the south".
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-Aruri, 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 Hassan Nasrallah warned Israel his fighters would respond swiftly to Aruri'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.
(With inputs from AFP)
