An Israeli strike on southern Lebanon has killed a senior Hezbollah commander, the Iran-backed group said.

According to AFP, Hezbollah named the commander as Sami Abdallah, also known as Abu Taleb, born in 1969, in a statement reporting his death.

A Lebanese military source said the commander was “the most important in Hezbollah to be killed up to now since the start of the war” between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, which has fuelled violence on the Lebanon-Israel border.

The source said the strike hit the town of Jouaiyya, 15 kilometres from the Israeli border, and also killed three other people.

Hezbollah later announced the death of a second fighter, with a source close to the movement identifying him as Mohammad Hussein Sabra, also known as Baqer.