Hezbollah launches more than 200 missiles at Israeli targets following the death of its commander

The Lebanese Hezbollah group claims it has launched over 200 rockets at multiple military bases in Israel in retaliation for a strike that killed one of its senior commanders.

Muhammed Neamah Naser, a commander in Hezbollah’s Aziz Unit, was "eliminated" on Wednesday, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), who accused him of directing terror attacks both before and after Hamas' October 7 attacks from Gaza.

The IDF described him as a counterpart to Sami Taleb Abdullah, another Hezbollah commander whose death last month also led to a wave of retaliatory strikes.

“Together, they served as two of the most significant Hezbollah terrorists in southern Lebanon,” the IDF said.

In response to Naser's killing, Hezbollah announced on Thursday that it had launched "more than 200 missiles of various types" at Israeli targets.

The Israeli military reported that "numerous projectiles and suspicious aerial targets" had entered its territory from Lebanon, many of which were intercepted. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

In retaliation, the IDF stated that their fighter jets struck Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon overnight from Wednesday into Thursday, hitting a military structure and three "terrorist infrastructure sites." Hezbollah confirmed that one of its fighters had been killed.

Cross-border fire between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah has been a near-daily occurrence since the war in Gaza began, with increasing intensity raising fears of a full-blown conflict.

The U.S. and France are working to prevent these skirmishes from escalating into a broader war that could affect the entire region.