Three members of the Lebanese group Hezbollah were killed on Tuesday when their vehicle was targeted in an airstrike in the town of Ghundouriyeh in southern Lebanon, two sources familiar with the operations of Hezbollah told Reuters. The Israeli Foreign Minister, Yisrael Katz, has claimed Tel Aviv's responsibility for the assassination of Wissam Eid, a senior figure in Hezbollah's Radwan unit in southern Lebanon.
In an interview with Israel's Channel 14, Katz stated that this was a part of the war, with Tel Aviv's objective being to restore security to northern and southern Israel.
"We are making Hezbollah pay a price and are pushing them further and further away from the borders practically, and this could end with severe international pressure by the way on Iran to pressure Hezbollah in turn, as they understand the cost, this could evolve into full-scale war tomorrow," Katz added.
He mentioned that Israel is fighting on several fronts, has prepared itself and has the capability for it. Katz further added that the United States' support for Israel is strategic in the face of what he described as a World War III occurring around them, fought by the Iranian axis.
Katz warned Hezbollah that should war escalate, they would receive a blow 50 times stronger than what they encountered in the Second Lebanon War in 2006.
Hezbollah announced on Monday the death of the prominent field commander Wissam Eid in an Israeli airstrike on a vehicle in southern Lebanon.
The targeting came after a Hezbollah operation last Saturday against the Meir Oni Israeli air surveillance base, which the Israeli military admitted suffered damages, and which the group described as a preliminary response to the assassination of Saleh Arouri, the Deputy Head of Hamas's Political Bureau, in an air strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
It's worth noting that on November 22 last year, Israel assassinated five leaders from Hezbollah's Radwan unit.
In solidarity with the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah and Palestinian factions in Lebanon have been exchanging intermittent shelling with the Israeli military since October 8th last year, resulting in dozens of casualties and injuries on both sides of the border.
