Hezbollah says one of its senior commanders was killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon.
Mohammed Nimah Nasser is the latest senior member of an Iran-backed Lebanese militant group to be targeted by Israel as nearly nine months of cross-border violence raises fears of all-out war.
Hezbollah said it fired 100 rockets and missiles at Israeli military bases “in response to the assassination.” No injuries were reported.
The Israeli military has accused Nasser of commanding a unit that fired rockets into southwestern Lebanon and of orchestrating “large-scale terrorist attacks.”
He was also described as a “counterpart” of another Hezbollah unit commander, Taleb Sami Abdullah, whose killing last month led to Hezbollah firing more than 200 rockets and missiles into northern Israel in a single day.
Since then, there have been diplomatic efforts to ease tensions, while the United Nations and the United States have warned that a war that could draw in Iran and other allies could have catastrophic consequences.
Since the start of hostilities between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip on October 7, there have been almost daily gunfire exchanges along the Israel-Lebanon border.
Hezbollah said it was acting in support of Iran-backed Palestinian groups, both of which are banned as terrorist organizations by Israel, Britain and other countries.
More than 400 people have been reported killed so far in Lebanon, most of them Hezbollah fighters, and 25 in Israel, most of them soldiers.
Tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border have been forced to flee their homes and become refugees.
