UPDATE - Top Hezbollah commanders killed in Israeli drone strike in Lebanon

CHANGES HEADLINE; ADDS DETAILS ON ASSASSINATION OF MUHAMMAD SHAHOURI, MAHMOUD FADLALLAH

By Mohammad Sio

ISTANBUL (AA) - Three senior Hezbollah commanders were assassinated Tuesday in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon, according to the Israeli army.

A statement said Ismail Yusuf Baz, the commander of Hezbollah's coastal region, was killed in a drone attack in Ain Baal in the city of Tyre.

Baz was ''a senior and veteran official in the military wing of Hezbollah,'' it said.

The Israeli army said Baz was responsible for advancing and planning rocket and anti-tank missile launches toward Israel from southern Lebanon.

Hours later, Lebanese media reported another drone strike on a vehicle in the village of Chehabiyeh, which killed two Hezbollah members.

Israel later claimed responsibility for the strike and said it targeted Muhammad Shahouri, a commander in Hezbollah's elite Radwan force.

The army identified Shahouri as commander of Radwan's western district rocket unit.

In addition to Shahouri, Hezbollah commander Mahmoud Fadlallah was killed in the assault. The army said he was a member of the group’s missile unit.

Hezbollah confirmed the deaths of the three fighters without providing further details.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency earlier reported fatalities in an Israeli airstrike on two vehicles in the town of Shihabiya in southern Lebanon, without providing details.

Tuesday's attack came amid an exchange of cross-border fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah since last October following a deadly Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip, which killed more than 33,800 people following a Hamas attack.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul