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Senior figures from the militant groups Hezbollah and Hamas were killed in separate incidents on Monday. This is the latest in a spate of deaths attributed to Israel that has fueled fears of a wider conflagration in the Middle East.
Wissam Tawil, a senior commander of Lebanon's powerful paramilitary Hezbollah force, was killed in an attack in the south of the country, the group said in a statement, blaming Israel for the “assassination.”
Israel's Foreign Minister Israel Katz appeared to confirm the claim in a television interview on Monday evening, saying: “The attack in southern Lebanon…”. . We have taken responsibility. . . This is part of our war.” Katz described Tawil as the “de facto commander” of Hezbollah Radwan’s elite forces. Until Katz's comments, Israel had neither claimed responsibility for the attack nor officially commented on it.
Tawil is believed to be the highest-ranking Hezbollah member killed since Israel and the Lebanese militant group began the firefight across their shared border on October 8, a day after its ally Hamas carried out its deadly attack on Israel .
Meanwhile, Israel said it killed Hassan Hakashah in an attack in Beit Jinn in Syria and accused him of being a “central figure” responsible for Hamas' recent rocket fires from the country into Israel.
“We will not allow terrorism from Syrian territory and will hold Syria responsible for any activities originating from its territory,” the Israeli military said in a statement.
Neither Syria nor the Palestinian militant group have commented on Hakashah's death.
The killings came as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited the Middle East for the fourth time since October to prevent rising tensions from escalating into a full-blown regional war.
Israel and Iran have been engaged in an increasingly open confrontation across the Middle East over the past decade, which has intensified since the conflict with Hamas began in Gaza.
Tawil's death came six days after Saleh Al-Arouri, Hamas' deputy political leader, was killed in a suspected drone strike in Beirut that Lebanon and Hezbollah blamed on Israel. Israeli officials declined to comment on Al-Arouri's death.
Hezbollah released a detailed biography of the 49-year-old Tawil, something it has not done for the 130 other fighters killed in the past three months, suggesting he was a senior member of the armed forces.
Pro-Hezbollah media channels also circulated images of Tawil along with other prominent members of the so-called Resistance Axis, which is backed by Iran and opposes Israel.
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Tawil joined Hezbollah in 1989 and has since taken part in most of the group's major operations, including a cross-border raid that triggered the devastating 34-day war against Israel in 2006, her statement said.
He has led “many” Hezbollah operations in southern Lebanon since October 7, it said.
In recent weeks, Israeli leaders have made clear that they no longer want to tolerate the presence of Hezbollah fighters on their northern border, warning that they are prepared to take military action to remove them if diplomacy fails would do. “Our focus on Hezbollah’s Radwan forces in southern Lebanon is pushing them away from the border,” Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said.
“We are committed to continuing to create a different security reality in the north that ensures the safety of residents.”