Israel says strike kills elite Hezbollah unit field commander

By Laila Bassam

BEIRUT (Reuters) -A field commander in Hezbollah's elite Radwan forces was killed in an Israeli strike on south Lebanon, the Israeli military and two security sources said on Thursday, the latest senior member of the group to be killed in months of tit-for-tat strikes across the border with Israel.

Habib Maatouk had replaced another commander in the elite unit, Ali Ahmed Hassin, who was killed in April in an Israeli strike, the security sources said.

The Israeli military said it had killed a Radwan Force operations unit commander it named as Ali Jaafar Maatuk, along with another commander responsible for Radwan Force operations in the Hajir region. It said additional Radwan Force fighters were also killed in the strike.

Maatouk was killed in one of several strikes on the neighbouring border villages of Safad El Battikh and Jmaijmeh, the sources said. Eighteen wounded were taken to nearby Tebnine government hospital, its director Mohammed Hamadi told Reuters.

Reuters was not able to immediately determine how many were fighters and how many were civilians.

Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has warned in a speech on Wednesday that the group would widen the scope of its attacks in Israel if it struck more civilians.

Earlier on Thursday, Hamas said one of their commanders had been killed in an Israeli strike in Lebanon's West Bekaa and a Hezbollah member was killed in an Israeli strike in the southern town of Jbal El Botm.

Hezbollah announced attacks with dozens of rockets and missiles on Israel throughout the day, including on the Filon base in Israel's Safed for the first time, the group said.

Israel and Hezbollah have been trading fire since Hezbollah announced a "support front" with Palestinians shortly after its ally Hamas attacked southern Israeli border communities on Oct. 7, triggering Israel's military offensive in Gaza.

The fighting in Lebanon has killed more than 100 civilians and more than 300 Hezbollah fighters, according to a Reuters tally, and led to levels of destruction in Lebanese border towns and villages not seen since the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war.

Fears have grown in recent weeks among international observers that Israel may expand its military operations in Lebanon, risking a wider war.

Israel has said it is undertaking the necessary preparations for a wider operation but no decision has been made yet.

Hezbollah has said it does not want war with Israel but is ready for it.

(Reporting by Laila Bassam; Writing by Enas Alashray, Leslie Adler and Timour Azhari; editing by Diane Craft and Stephen Coates)