Israel says Revolutionary Guard operative killed in Lebanon

Hassan Ali Mahmoud Badir, a member of Hezbollah's Unit 3900 and the Revolutionary Guards Quds Force, was killed in the Dahiyeh area of Beirut, a stronghold of the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia.

"Badir recently operated in cooperation with the Hamas terrorist organization, directed Hamas terrorists, and assisted them in planning and advancing a significant and imminent terror attack against Israeli civilians," a statement released on Tuesday said.

"Given the immediacy of the threat, Badir was struck immediately in order to eliminate the threat posed by a terror attack intended to harm Israeli civilians."

A Lebanese security source told Reuters that the target was a Hezbollah figure whose responsibilities included the Palestinian file. The Lebanese health ministry said the strike killed four people - including a woman - and wounded seven others.

The news comes amid a volatile US-France-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, which has seen both sides accuse the other of scores of violations.

"Hezbollah’s terrorist activity constitutes a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon and poses a threat to Israel and its citizens," the Israeli military said.

Last year, in the wake of the Gaza war, sparked by the Iran-backed Hamas invasion of Israel on October 7, Israel carried out a bombing on Iran's consulate compound in Damascus, killing senior IRGC commanders and senior figures connected to operations in Syria, Lebanon and Palestine.

Among those killed were Brig. Gen. Mohammed Zahedi, the Quds Force’s commander for Syria and Lebanon, Gen. Hossein Aminollah, the Quds Force’s chief of staff for Syria and Lebanon, and Maj. Gen. Mohammed Hadi Haj-Rahimi, the commander for Palestine.

The attack triggered Iran's first direct aerial attack on Israel, bringing the one-time shadow war into the fore, with both countries launching direct attacks which have seen the conflict between the archenemies reach their most tense ever.