A senior Hezbollah commander identified as Wissam al-Tawil, also known as “Jawad”, was assassinated in an Israeli air strike on Monday.

Unnamed security sources told news agencies that Jawad, the deputy head of a unit in the elite Radwan force, and another Hezbollah resistance fighter were assassinated when their car was hit by the air strike on the village of Majdal Selm.

“This is a very painful strike,” one security source told Reuters news agency.

The killing comes as the US secretary of state arrived in Israel on Monday purportedly intended to calm burgeoning tensions and the threat of a wider war.

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has warned, “Whoever thinks of war with us … will regret it.”

In a statement released on Monday afternoon, the Hezbollah resistance movement mourned the commander, publishing a number of photos that showed him alongside prominent Resistance leaders in the context of his line of work, according to Al Mayadeen.

In individual photos, Tawil is seen with Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, martyr Imad Moughniyeh, martyr Mostafa Badreddine, and martyr IRGC Quds Force chief Qassem Soleimani.