BEIRUT/JERUSALEM
July 3 (Reuters) - An Israeli strike killed one of Hezbollah's top
commanders in south Lebanon on Wednesday, prompting retaliatory rocket
fire by the Iran-backed group into Israel as their dangerously poised
conflict rumbled on.
The
Israeli military said it had struck and eliminated Hezbollah's Mohammed
Nasser, calling him commander of a unit responsible for firing from
southwestern Lebanon at Israel.
Nasser,
killed by an airstrike near the city of Tyre in southern Lebanon, was
the one of the most senior Hezbollah commanders to die yet in the
conflict, two security sources in Lebanon said.
Sparked by the
Gaza war,
the hostilities have raised concerns about a wider and ruinous conflict
between the heavily armed adversaries, prompting U.S. diplomatic
efforts aimed at deescalation.
Israeli
Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Israeli forces were hitting
Hezbollah "very hard every day" and will be ready to take any action
necessary against the group, though the preference is to reach a
negotiated arrangement.
Hezbollah
began firing at Israeli targets at the border after its Palestinian
ally Hamas launched the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, declaring support for
the Palestinians and saying it would cease fire when Israel stops its
Gaza offensive.
Hezbollah
announced at least two attacks in response to what it called "the
assassination", saying it launched 100 Katyusha rockets at an Israeli
military base and its Iranian-made Falaq missiles at another base in the
town of Kiryat Shmona near the Israeli-Lebanese border.
Israel's
Channel 12 broadcaster reported that dozens of rockets were fired into
northern Israel from Lebanon. There were no reports of casualties. The
Israeli Defence Ministry said that air raid sirens sounded in several
parts of northern Israel.
Israel's
military did not give a number of rockets launched but said most of
them fell in open areas, some were intercepted, while a number of
launches fell in the area of Kiryat Shmona.
It
added that no injuries were reported but firefighters were working to
extinguish a number of fires that were ignited by the rocket attack.
Following
the rocket salvos, it said, Israeli fighter jets struck a Hezbollah
launcher that was used to fire the barrages toward Israel as well as two
additional launchers.
The
sources in Lebanon said Nasser was responsible for a section of
Hezbollah's operations at the frontier. One of the sources said a second
Hezbollah fighter and a civilian were also killed.
Nasser
was of the same rank and importance as Taleb Abdallah, a top commander
who was killed by an Israeli strike in June, prompting Hezbollah to fire
its
largest barrages of drones and rockets yet in retaliation, the sources said.
The
Israeli military statement said Nasser and Abdallah "served as two of
the most significant Hezbollah terrorists in southern Lebanon".
Senior
Hezbollah politician Hassan Fadlallah said Nasser had known he was a
target but had not left the battlefield in nine months. Hezbollah would
inflict its "punitive response" on Israel for "its crime, so that this
enemy understands that the arm of the resistance is long", he said.
The
hostilities have inflicted a heavy toll on both sides of the frontier,
forcing tens of thousands of people to flee their homes.
Israeli
attacks in Lebanon have killed more than 300 Hezbollah fighters and 87
civilians, according to Reuters tallies. Israel says fire from Lebanon
has killed 18 soldiers and 10 civilians.
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Reporting
by Laila Bassam in Beirut, Maayan Lubell and Steven Scheer in Jerusalem
and Jana Choukeir in Dubai; Writing by Maya Gebeily and Tom Perry;
Editing by Alex Richardson, Gareth Jones, William Maclean