Israeli Attack in Beirut Kills Senior Hezbollah Commander

Israel killed a senior Hezbollah commander on Wednesday, according to two sources, in an attack in Beirut, Lebanon that Lebanon's Health Ministry said killed seven people.

Lebanese security sources and a Hezbollah source told AFP that the senior commander in question was Youssef Hashem, responsible for the group's military affairs in Iraq and was in a tent when Israel attacked, quoted by Al Arabiya (2/4).

The Israeli military said Hashem was the commander of Hezbollah for the southern Lebanese front.

Lebanon was dragged into the Middle East war in early March when Tehran-backed Hezbollah launched rockets towards Israel in retaliation for a US-Israeli attack that killed Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

Israel then responded by launching a massive attack on the entire Lebanese territory and later resumed ground operations.

Meanwhile, a source close to Hezbollah said Hashem was "the highest-ranking official to be targeted since the start of the war."

Another Hezbollah member, Mohammad Baqir al-Nabulsi, was also killed in the attack in the Jnah area of Beirut, the group said.