Hezbollah launches massive rocket attack on Israel after its commander gets killed
A view of the southern Lebanese village of Aita al-Shaab
Lebanon-based and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah claimed it fired more than 100 rockets at Israeli positions on Wednesday (July 3) in purported retaliation for a strike that killed a senior commander in Lebanon. The Hezbollah commander's killing is second of its kind in recent weeks.
Hezbollah has been continuously upping its ante with cross-border fire towards Israel after its Palestinian ally Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7 last year that triggered larger war in Gaza.
But the potential of spillover of the conflict amid rampant trading of crossfire has raised fears of an all-out war.
"A Hezbollah commander responsible for one of three sectors in south Lebanon was killed" in an "Israeli strike on a car in Tyre", a source close to the group was quoted as saying by news agency AFP.
The Iran-backed group said that "commander Mohammed Naameh Nasser", also known as "Hajj Abu Naameh" had been killed, and also announced the death of a second fighter.
The Israeli army said in a statement that it "eliminated" Nasser, saying he was "the commander of the Hezbollah terrorist organisation's Aziz Unit which is responsible for firing from southwestern Lebanon at Israeli territory".
In a statement, Hezbollah said that "as part of the response to the attack and assassination that the enemy carried out" in south Lebanon's Tyre, its fighters attacked two positions in the Israeli-annexed Syrian Golan Heights "with 100 Katyusha rockets".
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The militant group also claimed another retaliatory attack with "Falaq rockets" on a base in northern Israel.
An Israeli military spokesperson confirmed that about 100 rocket launches had been made towards Israel from Lebanon.
The Israeli army statement Wednesday said that Nasser and Abdallah "served as two of the most significant Hezbollah terrorists in southern Lebanon".
According to the AFP, the cross-border violence has killed at least 495 people in Lebanon, most of them the men affiliated to Hezbollah but the deceased also included 95 civilians. Israeli authorities say at least 15 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed.
(With inputs from agencies)