Slain Hezbollah commander fought in some of the group's biggest battles, had close ties to leaders

Slain Hezbollah commander fought in some of the group’s biggest battles, had close ties to leaders

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This undated picture released by Hezbollah Military Media, shows senior Hezbollah commander Wissam Tawil, left, who was killed in Kherbet Selem village, south Lebanon, on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, sitting next of slain Iran’s Quds force General Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in Baghdad by a U.S. drone strike in January 2020. An Israeli airstrike killed Tawil, who is an elite Hezbollah commander in southern Lebanon, the latest in an escalating exchange of strikes along the border that have raised fears of another Mideast war even as the fighting in Gaza exacts a mounting toll on civilians.(Hezbollah Military Media, via AP)

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This undated picture released by Hezbollah Military Media, shows senior Hezbollah commander Wissam Tawil, left, who was killed in Kherbet Selem village, south Lebanon, on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, shaking hands with Hezbollah leader Sayed Hassan Nasrallah. An Israeli airstrike killed Tawil, who is an elite Hezbollah commander in southern Lebanon, the latest in an escalating exchange of strikes along the border that have raised fears of another Mideast war even as the fighting in Gaza exacts a mounting toll on civilians.(Hezbollah Military Media, via AP)

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In this undated picture released by Hezbollah Military Media, shows senior Hezbollah commander Wissam Tawil, centre, who was killed in Kherbet Selem village, south Lebanon, on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, standing next of slain top Hezbollah military commander Imad Mughniyeh, right, who was assassinated in Syria on February 2008. An Israeli airstrike killed Tawil, who is an elite Hezbollah commander in southern Lebanon, the latest in an escalating exchange of strikes along the border that have raised fears of another Mideast war even as the fighting in Gaza exacts a mounting toll on civilians. (Hezbollah Military Media, via AP)

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This undated picture released by Hezbollah Military Media, shows senior Hezbollah commander Wissam Tawil, right, who was killed in Kherbet Selem village, south Lebanon, on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, gesturing next of slain Hezbollah top commander Mustafa Badreddine, who was killed in Syria on May 2016. An Israeli airstrike killed Tawil, who is an elite Hezbollah commander in southern Lebanon, the latest in an escalating exchange of strikes along the border that have raised fears of another Mideast war even as the fighting in Gaza exacts a mounting toll on civilians.(Hezbollah Military Media, via AP)

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This undated picture released by Hezbollah Military Media, shows senior Hezbollah commander Wissam Tawil, who was killed in Kherbet Selem village, south Lebanon, on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024. An Israeli airstrike killed Tawil, who is an elite Hezbollah commander in southern Lebanon, the latest in an escalating exchange of strikes along the border that have raised fears of another Mideast war even as the fighting in Gaza exacts a mounting toll on civilians.(Hezbollah Military Media, via AP)

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This undated picture released by Hezbollah Military Media shows senior Hezbollah commander Wissam Tawil, who was killed in Kherbet Selem village, south Lebanon, on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024. An Israeli airstrike killed Tawil, who is an elite Hezbollah commander in southern Lebanon, the latest in an escalating exchange of strikes along the border that have raised fears of another Mideast war even as the fighting in Gaza exacts a mounting toll on civilians.(Hezbollah Military Media, via AP)

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In this picture released by Hezbollah Military Media, shows senior Hezbollah commander Wissam Tawil who was killed in Kherbet Selem village, South Lebanon, on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024. Tawil a senior Hezbollah commander was killed in an Israeli airstrike that hit his car in southern Lebanon, a security official told The Associated Press. (Hezbollah Military Media, via AP )

By BASSEM MROUE

BEIRUT (AP) — The elite Hezbollah commander who was killed in an Israeli airstrike Monday in southern Lebanon fought for the group for decades and took part in some of its biggest battles.

Wissam al-Tawil, a 48-year-old commander in Hezbollah’s secretive Radwan Force deployed along the border with Israel, was killed when the strike hit his SUV in his hometown of Khirbet Silem. The strike was about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the border, beyond the villages and towns that have witnessed the two sides exchange fire over the past three months.

Israeli officials have been demanding for weeks that the Radwan Force withdraw from the border area to allow tens of thousands of Israelis displaced by the fighting to return to their homes. During a visit to Israel last month, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said a “negotiated outcome” would be the best way to reassure residents of northern Israel.

Al-Tawil, who joined Hezbollah in 1989, was the highest-ranking official in the group to be killed since the exchange of fire along the Lebanon-Israel border began following the deadly Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel by Hamas, a Hezbollah ally.

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After the Israel-Hamas war started three months ago, al-Tawil commanded some “special operations” against Israeli posts along the border, according to a Hezbollah statement.

A Hezbollah official told The Associated Press that al-Tawil had a role in sparking the summer 2006 war with Israel and fought in Syria’s civil war, where he was in charge of coordinating between the Lebanese group and the Syrian army in the battles against the Islamic State group.

On July 12, 2006, al-Tawil was a member of a special Hezbollah unit that crossed into Israel, captured two Israeli soldiers and killed others, triggering a monthlong fight with Israel that killed 1,200 people in Lebanon and 160 in Israel, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Years later, when Hezbollah joined the war in Syria in 2013, fighting alongside Syrian government forces, al-Tawil was a close aide to Hezbollah’s chief commander there, Mustafa Badreddine, who was killed in 2016, the official said.

Al-Tawil, whose two brothers were killed fighting with Hezbollah, participated in dozens of attacks against Israeli forces and their Lebanese allies during Israel’s 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon until it withdrew in 2000. Hezbollah said in its statement that the father of four suffered a serious neck injury during an attack on an Israeli military post in southern Lebanon in 1999.

During his long years with the group, al-Tawil was close to Imad Mughniyeh, Hezbollah’s military chief from the group’s founding in 1982 until he was killed in a bombing in the Syrian capital in 2008.

Al-Tawil also had close links with Gen. Qassem Soleimani, head of Iran’s Quds Force, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad in 2020.