Hezbollah shells Meron, Beit Hillel after Israeli strikes kill 2 commanders

Hezbollah on Tuesday fired rockets at Israel's Meron air control base and the Beit Hillel military base in response to Israeli drone strikes that killed two of its military commanders in the southern towns of Ain Baal and Shehabiyeh.

The Israeli army and a source close to Hezbollah confirmed that a military commander was killed in the Ain Baal strike.

Israel and Hamas ally Hezbollah have been exchanging near-daily cross-border fire since the Palestinian militant group attacked southern Israel on October 7, triggering war in the Gaza Strip.

Tuesday's strike came with regional tensions high after Iran launched missile and drone attacks on Israel over the weekend in retaliation for a deadly Israeli strike on Tehran's consulate in Damascus.

The Israeli military said its "aircraft struck and eliminated Ismail Youssef Baz, the commander of Hezbollah's coastal sector," adding he was killed in the Ain Baal area.

The official National News Agency reported one dead in an Israeli strike on a car in Ain Baal, about 15 kilometers from the border, later saying "enemy warplanes" struck two cars in Shehabiyeh, about 10 kilometers from Ain Baal, killing and wounding several people.

Hezbollah announced in two statements that Baz and Mahmoud Ibrahim Fadlallah, apparently another commander, had been killed, without mentioning their ranks or roles.

But a source close to the group told AFP that Baz, "the field commander in charge of the Naqura region" had been killed "in an Israeli strike."

The Israeli military said Baz served as a senior and veteran official in several positions of Hezbollah’s military wing. It added that as part of his position, Ismail was involved in the promotion and planning of rocket and anti-tank missile launches toward Israel from the coastal area of Lebanon.

Hezbollah said it launched Katyusha rockets on a base in northern Israel's Beit Hillel "in response to the Israeli enemy's attacks" on Lebanese villages, "the latest of which was in Ain Baal."

Earlier Tuesday, Hezbollah claimed an attack on Beit Hillel using explosive drones, with local Israeli authorities saying three people were wounded.

The Israeli military said "two armed" drones entered from Lebanon and exploded near Beit Hillel.

Hezbollah had said its fighters launched an "air attack with suicide drones in two phases... striking the Iron Dome (air defense system) platforms and their crew" in the area.

On Monday, Hezbollah targeted Israeli troops with explosive devices, wounding four soldiers who crossed into Lebanese territory -- the first such attack in six months of clashes.

The violence has killed at least 365 people in Lebanon, mostly Hezbollah fighters but also including at least 70 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

In Israel, the military says 10 soldiers and eight civilians have been killed since hostilities began.

Tens of thousands of civilians have fled their homes on both sides of the border.