Ali Ahmed Hussein of Hezbollah's elite Radwan Forces was "eliminated" by Israeli jets in the area of Sultaniyeh in southern Lebanon, the military said in a statement, accusing him of attacks against Israeli targets in recent months.
At least two other people were killed in the strike, according to the Israeli military, Lebanese state media and a security source.
The military said Hussein had "carried out numerous launches toward Israeli territory" from Lebanon since war broke out on October 7 between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, a Hezbollah ally.
Hussein was a "commander of the Hezbollah terrorist organisation's Radwan Forces in the Hujeir region," the Israeli statement said, adding that two other Hezbollah fighters were also killed.
Hezbollah said one of its fighters, identified as Ali Ahmed Hussein and nicknamed Abbas Jaafar, had been killed, without saying where or when he died.
The Hezbollah statement did not mention his rank or position.
A Lebanese security source told AFP that "a local commander... from (Hezbollah's) Radwan unit" was killed in the Israeli strike along with two other members of the group.
The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, identified the commander as Abbas Jaafar.
Lebanon's official National News Agency reported that Israeli aircraft "raided an inhabited house" in Sultaniyeh, reporting "three martyrs and a number of wounded".
It said the strike caused "huge damage" to nearby buildings and infrastructure and that at least 10 families were affected.
Hezbollah, which has a powerful arsenal of rockets and missiles, has exchanged regular fire with Israeli forces since its ally Hamas carried out the unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, triggering war in the Gaza Strip.
That attack resulted in the deaths of around 1,170 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel's retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 33,175 people in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to the Hamas-ruled territory's health ministry.
The latest overnight strike on Lebanon came after the Israeli army said on Sunday it had completed "another phase of... readiness for war" on the Lebanon front.
Also Sunday, the Israeli military said its fighter jets struck a compound it said belonged to Radwan Forces "in the area of Khiam", several kilometres (miles) north of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Israel, which has carried out increasingly deeper strikes into Lebanese territory and has targeted several Hezbollah commanders, also reported hitting other targets in south Lebanon on Sunday.
The cross-border hostilities have killed at least 363 people in Lebanon, mostly Hezbollah fighters but also including at least 70 civilians, according to an AFP tally.
The fighting has displaced tens of thousands of people in southern Lebanon and in northern Israel, where the military says 10 soldiers and eight civilians have been killed.
Hezbollah and Israel last fought a war in 2006.
Israel says it hit Hezbollah sites in eastern Lebanon
Beirut (AFP) April 7, 2024 -
Israel's military said Sunday its warplanes had struck Hezbollah sites in eastern Lebanon, where the Iran-backed group has a strong presence, in retaliation for one of its drones being downed.
A source close to Hezbollah told an AFP correspondent in eastern Lebanon's Baalbek region that the strikes targeted Janta and Sifri in the Bekaa Valley, around 80 kilometres (50 miles) from the closest Israeli frontier.
The Israeli military said on Telegram that "fighter jets struck a military complex and three other terrorist infrastructure sites belonging to Hezbollah's air defense network" in the region.
It said the strikes were "in retaliation for the attack" in which an army "drone was shot down" by a surface-to-air missile on Saturday.
A source from Lebanon's civil defence said there were no casualties.
Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged near-daily cross-border fire since Palestinian militant group Hamas carried out an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, triggering war in Gaza.
Hamas ally Hezbollah generally targets Israeli positions close to the border, while Israel has carried out deeper raids into Lebanese territory, also targeting commanders from the Shiite Muslim militant group.
Hezbollah announced it had shot down an Israeli Hermes 900 drone over Lebanese territory on Saturday evening, after initially identifying it as a Hermes 450.
On Sunday, the group said it fired "dozens of Katyusha rockets" at two Israeli bases "in response to the enemy's attacks on the Bekaa area".
- 'Hangar' targeted -
Sifri is located in the Bekaa Valley plain, while nearby Janta is an arid mountainous region closer to the border with Syria.
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) said the target of the Israeli strikes in Sifri was a "hangar".
Israel launched similar strikes against Hezbollah targets in the Bekaa Valley in February after the group said it had shot down another Israeli drone.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech on Friday that his movement had not yet used its "main" weapons, and reiterated that Hezbollah would cease its attacks only when the war in Gaza ends.
The cross-border hostilities have killed at least 359 people in Lebanon, mostly Hezbollah fighters, but also at least 70 civilians, according to an AFP tally.
The fighting has displaced tens of thousands of people in southern Lebanon and in northern Israel, where the military says 10 soldiers and eight civilians have been killed.
On Saturday the Risala Scout association, which is affiliated with the Hezbollah-allied Amal movement and operates emergency teams in south Lebanon, said a rescuer had died.
An official from the group told AFP he had been wounded days earlier in south Lebanon.
Separately, the NNA reported that a woman wounded previously in an "enemy drone" strike in the border village of Yarin had also died of her wounds.
The hostilities have raised fears of all-out conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, which last went to war in 2006.
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