A senior Hezbollah commander was killed in a presumed Israeli airstrike Wednesday as the two sides brace for a possible all-out war.
The Lebanese-based terrorist group acknowledged the death of Muhammad Nimad Nasser in the strike that took place near the city of Tyre. He has been identified as the leader of the Aziz Unit.
Nasser was responsible for a part of Hezbollah’s operations along Lebanon’s southern border, which it shares with Israel, according to Reuters. Hezbollah began firing cross-border rockets at Israel in the aftermath of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack that left roughly 1,200 people dead, while an additional approximately 250 people were kidnapped.
Nasser is believed to have been the same rank as Taleb Abdallah, who was killed in an Israeli strike last month. Hezbollah carried out its largest drone and rocket attack in retaliation for Abdallah’s killing.
The continuous exchange of rocket and drone fire over the border has forced tens of thousands of civilians on both sides of the border to leave their homes indefinitely, and there’s no clear time frame for their return, given the possibility of a ground war.
Israeli and Hezbollah leaders have warned in recent weeks about the limited conflict expanding into a full-blown war. A major conflict would likely result in both sides incurring significant casualties and destruction, according to experts.
There are also concerns that if Israel and Hezbollah were to commence a full-scale war, it would drag others in the region into the fight. The United States has continued to support Israel’s efforts against Hamas and Hezbollah, while Iran supports both terrorist groups and others in the Middle East.
Several countries, including the U.S., have urgently sought to convince both sides to avoid a larger escalation or miscalculation, though it remains unclear if those concerns will be heeded.
Earlier this week, Kamal Kharrazi, a foreign affairs adviser to the Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, told the Financial Times that Iran and its “axis of resistance,” a title given to the proxy forces it supports and funds, would come to Hezbollah’s defense with “all means” if an all-out war began.
In addition to Hamas and Hezbollah, Tehran also supports the Houthis in Yemen, which have severely disrupted the global shipping markets with dozens of missile, drone, and rocket attacks on commercial vessels transiting the waterways off Yemen’s coasts, as well as militias in Iraq and Syria that have carried out more than 170 aerial attacks against U.S. forces in the region over the span of several months since Oct. 7, though these attacks have largely stopped.
“There would be a chance of expansion of the war to the whole region, in which all countries, including Iran, would become engaged. In that situation, we would have no choice but to support Hezbollah by all means,” Kharrazi said, emphasizing how the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah could devolve into a regional war.
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Tehran did involve itself in the conflict in April when Iran launched a barrage of more than 300 missiles, rockets, and drones from within its own borders toward Israel following an Israeli strike on an Iranian Consulate in Syria that killed a senior Iranian commander and other senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Israel responded minimally, demonstrating its ability to hit within Iran’s borders without inflicting much damage or destruction. President Joe Biden refused to support a more significant response, reportedly telling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “If you launch a big attack on Iran, you’re on your own,” according to the New York Times.