BEIRUT: An Israeli strike killed a local Hezbollah commander in south Lebanon on Tuesday, the Israeli army and a source close to the powerful Iran-backed movement said.

Israel and Hamas ally Hezbollah have been exchanging near-daily cross-border fire since the Palestinian group attacked southern Israel on October 7, triggering war in the Gaza Strip.

Tuesday’s strike came with regional tensions high after Iran launched missile and drone attacks on Israel over the weekend in retaliation for a deadly Israeli strike on Tehran’s consulate in Damascus. The Israeli military said its “aircraft struck and eliminated Ismail Yusef Baz, the commander of Hezbollah’s coastal sector”, adding he was killed in the Ain Baal area.