Israel assassinates Hezbollah commander Wissam al-Tawil who was pictured with Iranian general in Lebanon drone strike
A SENIOR Hezbollah commander was assassinated in an Israeli drone strike in southern Lebanon.
Israel accused Wissam al-Tawi, a leader in the Radwan force, of masterminding the weekend strike on an IDF base.
The Israeli hit job targeted the terror boss' car in the border town of Hirbat Salem in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah later confirmed that al-Tawil had been killed in the attack.
Recently uncovered footage show the Hezbollah commander having a seemingly close relationship with Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, who was assassinated by the US in 2020.
"This is a very painful strike [for Hezbollah]," a security source said.
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Another said, "things will flare up now."
A Lebanese security official revealed that the eliminated target had "a leading role in directing the operations in southern Lebanon."
Israeli officials have now confirmed they were behind the strike on al-Tawil.
Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon have killed more than 130 Hezbollah fighters since cross-border shelling began in the aftermath of Hamas's October 7 attacks.
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Another 19 have been killed in Syria.
Hezbollah's secretary-general Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned Israel in two televised addresses last week a full-scale war on Lebanon.
"Whoever thinks of war with us - in one word, he will regret it," Nasrallah said.
On Saturday, Iran-backed Hezbollah launched a barrage of rocket attacks into northern Israel in retaliation for the targeted killing of Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri.
The Lebanese terror group said it had fired 62 rockets on an IDF base in Meron - one of its largest bombardments in recent months.
Hezbollah said the strike was "in the framework of the initial response to the assassination of the senior leader Saleh al-Arouri and his martyr brothers."
Al-Arouri, who was seen as Hamas' prime orchestrator of terrorism in the West Bank, was killed earlier this week in a surgical strike in Lebanon.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the killing of al-Arouri would "not go unpunished".
He also said there would be "no ceilings" and "no rules" to Hezbollah's fighting if Israel launched attacks on Lebanon.
Only last week, another senior Hezbollah leader, Hussein Yazbek, was killed in an Israeli air strike which hit a building in Naqoura city.
But with every new strike - the risk of the already devastating conflict in Gaza spiralling into an all-out war in the region is increasing.
Since Israel's retaliation for Hamas's, Hezbollah has repeatedly threatened to open up new fronts in the conflict.
So far, this has been restrained to daily border skirmishes - forcing a sizeable chunk of the Israeli army to be pinned down on its northern border.
The group has been with missiles, mortar fire and suicide drones, while Israel has
The Lebanese terror group along with Yemen's Houthi rebels are part of Iran's self-styled "Axis of Resistance" against Israel that have been striking both Israeli and US targets in "solidarity" with Hamas.
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Hezbollah has a terrifyingly strong military and political grip on Lebanon and has already fought a devastating war against Israel in 2006 that claimed 1,200 lives.
It has become one of the most heavily armed thanks to decades of Iranian backing.
