Hezbollah has confirmed the death of one of its senior commanders in an Israeli air strike in southern Lebanon. The strike prompted reprisal attacks from the Iran-backed militant group which retalited with a barrage of rockets against Israel.
In the cross-border violence that has lasted almost nine months, Mohammed Nimah Nasser’s death adds to the number of senior members of Hezbollah to have been killed by Israeli airstrikes.
Hezbollah claims it had launched 100 rockets and missiles at Israeli military positions as part of its efforts to avenge the assassination. The Israeli military said though a number of projectiles which fell in open areas sparked fires, no injuries were reported.
The military said Nasser was commander of Hezbollah’s Aziz Unit, responsible for launching rockets from south-western Lebanon, and accused him of orchestrating a “large number of terror attacks”.
Nasser was also described as being a close ally of Taleb Sami Abdullah, the commander of another unit who was killed last month. His death prompted Hezbollah to launch more than 200 rockets and missiles into northern Israel in a single day.
From that point forward, there has been a series of conciliatory efforts to de-heighten tensions, with the UN and US cautioning of the possibly disastrous outcomes of a conflict that could likewise attract Iran and other allied groups.
There have been practically day to day trades of fire across the Israel-Lebanon line since the day after the beginning of the conflict among Israel and Hamas in Gaza on 7 October.
Hezbollah has said it is acting on the side of the Palestinian group that is likewise supported by Iran. Both Hamas and Hezbollah are banished as terrorist organizatons by Israel, the UK and other countries.
Lately, Israeli authorities have over and again cautioned that they will utilize military power to reestablish security along the northern boundary if diplomatic efforts fail.
“We are striking Hezbollah very hard every day and we will also reach a state of full readiness to take any action required in Lebanon, or to reach an arrangement from a position of strength,” Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Wednesday. “We prefer an arrangement, but if reality forces us we will know how to fight.”
Hezbollah, vigorously armed and long seen as an essentially better enemy than Hamas, has said it doesn’t need a full-out battle with Israel and that it will abide by any ceasefire agreement reached in Gaza, in Lebanon.
“Israel can decide what it wants: limited war, total war, partial war,” the group’s deputy leader, Naim Qassem, said in an interview with the Associated Press on Tuesday. “But it should expect that our response and our resistance will not be within a ceiling and rules of engagement set by Israel.”
Up until this moment, over 400 deaths have been reported in Lebanon, by far most of them Hezbollah warriors, and 25 individuals in Israel, generally fighters.
Many thousands from communities on the two sides of the border have likewise been displaced.
Source: BBC News
