Israel launched a rare airstrike that killed a senior Hezbollah military official in a densely populated southern Beirut neighborhood on Friday. It was the deadliest such strike on Lebanon’s capital in decades,

The attack represents another security failure for the militant group that has been reeling from repeated Israeli blows.

The Israeli military said today that it had bombed an apartment building in Beirut’s southern suburbs and killed a major figure in Hezbollah’s military command. The strike stoked fears that Israel is driving toward a full-blown war against Hezbollah.