Shukr, "who goes by the nom de guerre Mohsen Shukr, survived the Israeli strike," the source told AFP, requesting anonymity.

He added that the commander is "in charge of commanding military operations in southern Lebanon", where the group has been exchanging near-daily fire with Israel since war erupted in Gaza in October.

Shukr is the successor of Hezbollah's top commander Imad Mughniyeh, killed in a 2008 car bombing in Damascus that the Iran-backed group blamed on Israel, the source said.

In 2017, the US Treasury offered $5 million for information on Shukr, describing him as "a senior adviser" to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and saying he had "a central role" in the deadly 1983 bombing of the US Marine Corps barracks in Beirut.