On Monday a high-ranking Hezbollah commander was killed by an Israeli strike on southern Lebanon, the paramilitary group backed by Iran confirmed in a statement.
The slain commander, Wissam Hassan Al-Tawil, was reportedly deputy head of the group’s Radwan elite forces, which is a special operations unit with the mission of infiltrating Israeli territory. His car was reportedly hit in an airstrike as it was traveling in the village of Majdal Selm, Reuters details based on statements.
This is part of a steady and rising escalation and tit-for-tat, given that on Sunday at least seven Hezbollah members were killed as Israel goes after the Radwan unit in particular. The day prior to that, Hezbollah had launched dozens of missiles on an Israeli air force intelligence base and communications monitoring hub.
That large Saturday attack marked what Hezbollah leadership announced as "an initial response" to Israel's assassination by drone of Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri, which happened in a south Beirut neighborhood last week.
As for this latest killing of the elite commander Al-Tawil, Middle East Eye predicts assured continued escalation:
Known as “Jawad”, Tawil was a deputy head of a unit in the elite Radwan force and played an important role in Hezbollah's recent confrontations with the Israeli army.
"This is a very painful strike," one security source said, while another added, "Things will flare up now."
The commander played “a leading role in managing Hezbollah’s operations in the south”, according to one unnamed official speaking to the AFP news agency.
This newest assassination could be the final catalyst that forces Israel to open a second front in fighting, as its forces are already bogged down in Gaza.
However, The New York Times has presented IDF leadership as being optimistic and ready:
The Israeli military’s chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Herzl Halevi, said that its forces were determined to keep pressure on Hezbollah and that if those efforts fall short, Israel was ready to fight “another war.”
“We will create a completely different reality, or we will get to another war,” he said on Sunday.
An Israeli government spokesman complained that "Hezbollah is dragging Lebanon into a totally unnecessary war." The spokesman, Eylon Levy, said in a Monday press briefing, "We are now at a fork in the road."
A significant escalation in the war in northern Israel (border Lebanon), the IDF just eliminated a senior Hezbollah commander, Wissam Al-Tawil (he was the commander of the Radwan force in the South of Lebanon), a major hit for Hezbollah. Below him pictured with Qasem Soleimani… pic.twitter.com/QXfl9XJabZ
— Raylan Givens (@JewishWarrior13) January 8, 2024
He explained: "Either Hezbollah backs off, hopefully as part of a diplomatic solution, or we will push it away."
By almost all accounts of military observers and regional monitors, Hezbollah is much more formidable that Hamas, having several times the military capability to sustain a fight with the Israeli army in terms of manpower and weaponry. A full Israel-Hezbollah war would be a nightmare for the whole region, and would also drag the country of Lebanon into further suffering, amid the severe economic crisis of the last few years.
