ANOTHER senior Hezbollah commander has been assassinated in an Israeli strike in Lebanon.
Ali Hussien Barji, the leader of Hezbollah’s aerial forces, was struck in Khirbet Selm during the funeral of the terror group’s commander Wissam al-Tawil who was killed 24 hours ago.
Israel has killed top Hezbollah commander Ali Hussien Barji in a strike in Lebanon
APHe was present at the funeral procession of Wissam al-Tawi[/caption]
APal Tawi was killed less than 24 hours ago[/caption]
The Israeli hit job targeted al-Tawil’s car in southern Lebanon
Barji was present at the funeral procession when his car was blown up.
He was responsible for dozens of drone attacks on the northern Israeli border in recent months – including today’s strike on the IDF Northern Command HQ in Safed.
The IDF has not issued an official comment on the strike.
Less than 24 hours ago, the IDF killed Wissam al-Tawi, a leader in the Radwan force, in a drone strike in southern Lebanon.
Israel had accused al-Tawi of masterminding the weekend strike on an IDF base.
The Israeli hit job targeted the terror boss’ car in the border town of Hirbat Salem in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah later confirmed that al-Tawil had been killed in the attack.
Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon have killed more than 130 Hezbollah fighters since cross-border shelling began in the aftermath of Hamas’s October 7 attacks.
Another 19 have been killed in Syria.
Hezbollah’s secretary-general Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned Israel in two televised addresses last week not to launch a full-scale war on Lebanon.
“Whoever thinks of war with us – in one word, he will regret it,” Nasrallah said.
On Saturday, Iran-backed Hezbollah launched a barrage of rocket attacks into northern Israel in retaliation for the targeted killing of Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri.
The Lebanese terror group said it had fired 62 rockets on an IDF base in Meron – one of its largest bombardments in recent months.
Hezbollah said the strike was “in the framework of the initial response to the assassination of the senior leader Saleh al-Arouri and his martyr brothers.”
Al-Arouri, who was seen as Hamas’ prime orchestrator of terrorism in the West Bank, was killed earlier this week in a surgical strike in Lebanon.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the killing of al-Arouri would “not go unpunished”.
He also said there would be “no ceilings” and “no rules” to Hezbollah’s fighting if Israel launched attacks on Lebanon.
Just last week, Hezbollah leader Hussein Yazbek was killed in an Israeli air strike in southern Lebanon, the terrorist group confirmed.
The war against Hamas in Gaza has now engulfed a major part of the Middle East – with Iran-backed Houthis, Lebanon, and Hezbollah turning up against Israel.
The UN has warned Israel of a potential all-out war in the region.
French President Emmanuel Macron told Israel to try all they can to avoid the war escalating outside of Gaza and spilling across the Middle East.
Macron told Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz that Israel should stop any escalation “particularly in Lebanon”, in a statement, according to reports.
Earlier this week, the US said it remains “incredibly concerned” about the risk of the conflict in Gaza broadening into a major regional conflict.
And now US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is on a diplomatic tour of the Middle East amid the potential escalation of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
The burnt wreckage of the dead commander’s car yesterday
al-Tawil is pictured alongside slain Iranian general Qasem Soleimani