BEIRUT, July 18 (Reuters) – A field commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan forces was killed in an Israeli strike on south Lebanon, two security sources said on Thursday, the latest senior member of the group to be killed in months of tit-for-tat fighting with Israel.
Habib Maatouk had replaced another commander in the elite unit who was killed earlier this year in an Israeli strike, the security sources said.
Maatouk was killed in one of several strikes on the neighbouring border villages of Safad El Battikh and Jmaijmeh, the sources said.
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After the strikes, 18 wounded people arrived in nearby Tebnine government hospital, two in critical condition, hospital director Mohammed Hamadi told Reuters.
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.
(Reporting by Laila Bassam and Timour Azhari; Writing by Enas Alashray and Leslie Adler)
