In a tense escalation, a senior Hezbollah commander named Muhammad Nimah Nasser was killed by an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon. This strike comes amid months of heightened conflict along the border, prompting Hezbollah to retaliate by firing over 100 rockets into northern Israel. Nasser was known for commanding Hezbollah’s forces in the south and had a history of attacks against Israel, including involvement in a notable cross-border kidnapping. The situation remains volatile as both sides brace for potential further escalation, with international efforts underway to prevent a full-scale war.
As reported by The Times of Isreal, an Israeli airstrike on Wednesday killed a senior Hezbollah commander in southern Lebanon. He was one of the terror group’s highest-ranking officials murdered during the nine-month border conflict. On Wednesday afternoon, the terrorist group reacted by firing at least 100 missiles into northern Israel.
Following reports of the strike, Hezbollah verified the killing of Muhammad Nimah Nasser, also known as Abu Nimah, from Haddatha in southern Lebanon. Nasser was murdered in an airstrike in Tyre, a seaside city.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that “an enemy drone targeted a car” in Tyre, some 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the border. According to an AFP source, a civilian and another Hezbollah militant were also killed in the same strike.
In its statement, Hezbollah referred to Nasser as a commander, a term it rarely employs to refer to senior operatives killed in Israeli bombings. The only other operatives identified as commanders were Taleb Abdullah, the commander of the Nasr regional division, who was slain last month, and Wissam al-Tawil, the deputy head of the terror group’s elite Radwan unit, who was killed by Israel in January.
Several hours after the strike, the IDF verified the death of Nasser, who had headed Hezbollah’s Aziz unit, one of three regional divisions in south Lebanon, since 2016. The force is in charge of Lebanon’s southwestern sector, from the coast to the Bint Jbeil area, and has launched hundreds of raids against northern Israel’s upper and western Galilee amid the war.
According to the IDF, he is the second most senior Hezbollah leader killed in the present battle, following fellow regional division chief Abdullah. Nasser formerly commanded Hezbollah special forces and was involved in several attacks on Israel, including the 2006 cross-border kidnapping of soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.
Following Abdullah’s death in June, Lebanon launched an intensification of drone and rocket strikes on northern communities and IDF facilities, including a barrage of 215 rockets.
The IDF expects Hezbollah to launch heavy strikes in response to Nasser’s death. In the hours after the airstrike, at least 100 rockets were fired from Lebanon against Kiryat Shmona, other areas in the Galilee Panhandle, and at the northern Golan Heights, the military said.
According to the IDF, the majority of the rockets targeted open areas. There were no reported injuries.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant stated shortly after the airstrike that Israeli forces would be prepared to take any action against Hezbollah, while Israel would prefer to find a negotiated agreement.
Speaking to troops at the Gaza border, Gallant stated that IDF tanks exiting Rafah “can reach as far as the Litani” – a reference to a Lebanon river 10 miles north of Israel’s border and the line beyond which Israel demands the terror group withdraw its forces.
“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,” Gallant said in a statement from his office. “We prefer an arrangement, but if reality forces us we will know how to fight.”
Israeli allies’ diplomatic attempts to prevent an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah have stepped up in recent days, amid worries of a larger escalation.
On Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to avoid a “conflagration” between Israel and Hezbollah.
He “reiterated his serious concern over a deepening of tensions between Hezbollah and Israel… and underscored the absolute need to prevent a conflagration that would harm the interests of Lebanon as well as Israel,” according to a statement from the French presidency.
Amos Hochstein, the US ambassador who has visited Lebanon several times in recent months, was scheduled to meet with Macron’s Lebanon envoy, Jean-Yves Le Drian, on Wednesday in Paris.
Since October 8, Hezbollah-led troops have assaulted Israeli villages and military posts along the border almost daily. So far, the border skirmishes have killed 10 Israeli civilians and 15 IDF soldiers and reservists.
Hezbollah has listed 359 members killed by Israel during the ongoing battles, most of whom were in Lebanon but some in Syria. In Lebanon, another 65 terrorist operatives, a Lebanese soldier, and around 95 civilians were slain.
Recently, GreatGameIndia reported that according to Israeli media, later confirmed by the IDF, Hezbollah targeted an Israeli fighter jet with anti-aircraft missiles for the first time.
