3 Hezbollah Commanders Killed in Israeli Airstrike, Drone Hits Israeli Base

Jerusalem, 9 January, 2024 (TPS) -- Tensions along the Israeli-Lebanese border rose sharply as an Israeli airstrike killed three Hezbollah commanders, and a Hezbollah drone hit the Israeli military’s Northern Command headquarters. On Tuesday.

The three Hezbollah commanders were in a car in the South Lebanese area of Nabatieh when it was struck by a guided missile, according to Lebanese reports.

The Israel Defense Forces has not commented on the strike. The IDF confirmed on Tuesday that fighter jets carried out a separate airstrike near the village of Kila on Hezbollah infrastructure and on a squad preparing to fire rockets.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for a barrage of rockets and drones at northern Israel. One of the drones struck the Israel Defense Force’s Northern Command headquarters in the city of Safed.

Hezbollah said the attack was in response to Monday’s assassination of Wissam Tawil, a commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan unit, and also for the assassination deputy Hamas leader Salah Arouri on Jan. 3. Arouri and six senior Hamas figures were killed in an airstrike in Beirut’s Dahiya district, a Hezbollah stronghold.

Further to the warnings in the north of the country, a number of launches were detected from the territory of Lebanon towards the areas of Malkia and Petah. Sirens were also triggered in the areas of Biriya and Kibbutz Yiftah.

The escalation comes as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits Jerusalem for meetings with Israeli leaders on Tuesday and Wednesday.