Israel killed a top Hezbollah commander on Wednesday, two sources told AFP, in a Beirut strike that Lebanon’s health ministry said killed seven people.
A Lebanese security source and a Hezbollah source told AFP 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 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.
