Southern Lebanon is where Hezbollah maintains tunnels to store missiles — and from where it can launch them, Koulouriotis said. Some of the more than 50 Israelis killed by Hezbollah over the past year were hit by anti-tank missiles.

Israel stepped up air strikes on Lebanon and said a senior Hezbollah commander in the south of the country had been killed, the latest escalation of its conflict with the Iran-backed militant group.