Hezbollah targets Israeli base to avenge killings in Lebanon

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah said it targeted an Israeli command base Tuesday in retaliation for the killings of one of its commanders and the Hamas deputy leader.

Hezbollah and its arch-foe Israel have been exchanging near-daily fire across the border since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on October 7.

The Shiite Muslim movement, a Hamas ally, said it had targeted the “enemy’s northern command centre” in the city of Safed with “several suicide drones.”

It said the attack was part of its response to the killings of Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Aruri on January 2 and of Hezbollah field commander Wissam Tawil on Monday.

The Israeli army confirmed that a “hostile aircraft” had come down at one of its bases in the north and said that “no injuries or damage were reported.”

On Saturday, Hezbollah said it had fired more than 60 rockets at an Israeli military base, also in response to Aruri’s killing in Beirut which was widely blamed on Israel.

Hezbollah number two Naim Qassem in a speech Tuesday warned that Israel’s wave of targeted killings “cannot lead to a phase of retreat but rather to a push forward for the resistance.”

He described Tawil as a member of Hezbollah’s elite al-Radwan Brigade who had fought on several fronts.

Funeral

Tawil, a top Hezbollah commander, was buried in his south Lebanon village of Khirbit Silm on Tuesday. He was the highest-ranking Hezbollah member to be killed since October 7. Hundreds of Hezbollah supporters attended his funeral procession, the group’s yellow flag draped over his coffin.

Shortly before the procession began, Israel struck a car parked in the village, according to the National News Agency (NNA) and eyewitnesses. It was unclear who the target of the strike was and whether there were casualties.

Hezbollah said Tawil was involved in the abduction of Israeli soldiers which triggered the group’s last war with Israel in 2006 as well as high-calibre operations in Syria. He had also “directed numerous operations” against Israeli forces since the Gaza war began, Hezbollah said.