Hezbollah said that an Israeli strike has killed a senior commander of the Lebanon-based group, amid heightened tensions between the two sides.
A statement from Hezbollah said the commander, Mohammad Naamah Nasser, was killed Wednesday in a strike near the coastal city of Tyre. Taleb Abdallah, another commander for Hezbollah, was killed last month in a separate Israeli airstrike.
Since October 7, when the war in Gaza was started by a Hamas attack on Israel, Hezbollah has engaged in almost daily cross-border fire with the Israeli army. Hamas and Iran-backed Hezbollah are allies.
The back-and-forth between the countries has escalated and Hezbollah has said it will stop any attacks when a cease-fire occurs in Gaza. Israeli officials have warned of a larger military operation if Hezbollah does not end its attacks.
The recent clashes have raised concerns about a direct confrontation between Lebanon and Israel, sparking diplomatic efforts to cool the situation.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday encouraged Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu to avoid a “conflagration” between the two countries. Amos Hochstein, senior adviser to U.S. President Joe Biden, has been traveling between Lebanon and Israel and was scheduled to meet with Jean-Yves Le Drian, Macron’s Lebanon envoy, on Wednesday.
The cross-border violence has killed at least 494 people in Lebanon, including 95 civilians over a period of nearly nine months, according to a tally by Agence France-Presse. According to Israeli authorities, at least 15 Israeli soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed.
