Lebanon’s Shiite militant group Hezbollah said today it launched drones laden with explosives against a military base in northern Israel in retaliation for the killing of a senior Hamas official in Sidon in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah fighters fired “swarm of drones loaded with explosives” against an Israeli army base near the city of Safed “in retaliation for the assassination committed by the Israeli enemy in Sidon,” a statement from the Lebanese movement said, adding that this is “the first time” Hezbollah has targeted the base.

On Friday, an official of Hamas killed in an Israeli airstrike in Sidon, Lebanon. According to the Lebanese NNA news agency, Samer al-Hajj was killed when an Israeli drone hit the car he was riding in. The victim was a Hamas security officer in the Ain el Helueh camp, the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, according to the same source.

Hamas has announced that its “commander”, Samer al-Hajj, has been killed.

The Israeli military confirmed it had “neutralized” Samer al-Hajj in a raid, which it described as a “senior commander” of Hamas in Lebanon.