Senior Hezbollah commander killed in Israeli airstrike

Tel Aviv, Jan 10: The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has said that it has killed a senior commander of Hezbollah responsible for several drone attacks on Israel.

The IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari in a press statement confirmed that the Hezbollah commander Ali Hussein Barji was killed by an Israeli air strike on Tuesday evening.

Israel also said that the slain commander was in charge of the drone unit of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and was instrumental in several drone attacks on Israel, including the one on the IDF base in northern Israel on Tuesday morning.

Arab and Hebrew media reported that the attack took place in the town of Khirbet Selm, shortly before the funeral of another senior Hezbollah commander, Wissam Hassan Tawil, who was killed in an alleged Israeli strike on Monday.

Hezbollah has formally announced the death of Barji, saying he was killed "on the road to Jerusalem," a euphemism it uses to eulogise its fighters.

These back-to-back killings of senior Hezbollah commanders, Wissam Hassan Tawil on Monday and Ali Hussein Barji on Tuesday, has given severe blow to Hezbollah. These killings have taken place even as the US State Secretary Antony Blinken is on a whirlwind tour in the Middle Eastern countries, including Israel.

Blinken has on Tuesday held a series of meetings with Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.