Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz confirmed Monday evening in an interview with Channel 14 that Israel is behind the assassination of the commander of the Radwan Force, Wissam al-Tawil, despite Jerusalem not officially taking responsibility for the assassination, Ynet reported on Tuesday.
“Regarding the strike in southern Lebanon, we took responsibility for that assassination of the Radwan Force commander,” said the Foreign Minister. “It’s part of the war; we’re targeting Hezbollah operatives, infrastructure, and systems they’ve set up to deter Israel.”
The FM said, “We are paying prices. There is a war here; we are operating under a framework that has been established. We did not decide to thwart 150,000 missiles right now. We set a goal to restore security to the residents of the north, to restore security to the residents of the south, and to the State of Israel.”
IDF refuses to comment
The IDF Spokesman, Lt. Col. Daniel Hagari refused to comment this evening on the assassination of the commander of the Radwan Force in Lebanon, although he was asked about it during the daily press briefing.
He replied, “We need to act to remove the threat on the northern border and create the conditions that will allow it’s residents to return home safely – we will achieve this with actions, not words. I don’t want to comment on what is published in the foreign media, we are well prepared on the northern border.”
Al-Tawil, was a senior Hezbollah official who was killed in an attack reportedly attributed to Israel by the international media. He was recently appointed commander of the Radwan force, an elite unit of the Lebanese terrorist organization. He is the most senior member of Hezbollah to be killed in an Israeli strike.
Al-Tawil was responsible for the ambush on October 7, 2000, at Mount Dov, when IDF combat engineers Adi Avitan, Benyamin Avraham, and Omar Sawaed were killed, kidnapped by Hezbollah, and then their bodies were returned to Israel in a prisoner exchange.
Al-Tawil was also behind the killing and abduction of soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev in July 2006, an operation that led Israel to the Second Lebanon War. He was also responsible for the attack in Magidoo in March 2023, where a terrorist from Lebanon infiltrated Israel and planted an explosive that severely injured an Israeli driver.
In Lebanon, it was reported that al-Tawil was killed in an attack by an Israeli drone that targeted a car in the destroyed town of Salim in the southern part of the country. In the attack, about 10 kilometers from the Israel-Lebanon border, another person whose identity has not yet been disclosed was killed, likely another member of Hezbollah.
Since October 8, Hezbollah has attacked Israel with rockets and anti-tank missiles close to the northern border, and the IDF has fired back in response. However, since late December, and particularly after the assassination of Hamas Deputy Chief Saleh al-Arouri, Hezbollah has fired dozens of rockets and significantly damaged an important piece of the IDF’s air defense capabilities in the North.
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