Hezbollah rains rockets on Israel after strike kills commander
- Taleb Sami Abdallah was said to be the most important member of the Lebanese militant group to be killed since the start of the war in Gaza
Lebanese militant group Hezbollah fired barrages of rockets at Israel on Wednesday and vowed to intensify its attacks after an Israeli strike killed a senior commander in south Lebanon the previous day.
Hezbollah has traded near-daily cross-border fire with Israeli forces since its Palestinian ally Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, triggering war in the Gaza Strip.
The exchanges have escalated in recent weeks, with Hezbollah stepping up its use of drones to attack Israeli military positions and Israel hitting back with targeted strikes against the militants.
“We will increase the intensity, strength, quantity and quality of our attacks,” said senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine, speaking at the funeral of commander Taleb Sami Abdallah, who was killed in Tuesday’s Israeli strike.
In Doha, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken renewed calls on Wednesday for a diplomatic solution on the Israel-Lebanon border and said a long-sought Gaza ceasefire deal would “take a tremendous amount of pressure out of the system”.
