Israel kills Hamas commander in Lebanon’s Sidon; bodyguard said critically wounded
An Israeli airstrike on Friday killed a Hamas commander in the southern Lebanese port city of Sidon, in a joint operation claimed by the Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet security service.
A Hamas source and two other security sources told Reuters that Samer al-Hajj’s bodyguard was also critically wounded in the strike.
According to a statement from the military and Shin Bet, al-Hajj was responsible for “advancing terror attacks and projectile launches from Lebanon toward Israeli territory.”
Al-Hajj was the commander of Hamas’s military forces in the Ein el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp near Sidon, and responsible for “recruiting and training terrorists to attack the State of Israel,” the Israeli statement added.
Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported that al-Hajj was traveling in a SUV when it was struck by two missiles.
According to NNA, people in Ein el-Hilweh angrily took to the streets to march against Israel, chanting slogans in support of Hamas.
The IDF said it also struck Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon on Friday evening, including rocket launchers in the village of Kfarhamam that were primed for an attack on northern Israel.
The military added that other Hezbollah infrastructure was struck in Ayta ash-Shab, Markaba, Mhaibib, and Kafr Kila.
The IDF carried out numerous strikes again Hezbollah earlier in the day, killing two operatives in Lebanon’s Naqoura, while the Lebanese terror group continued its rocket attacks on the north, causing damage in the city of Kiryat Shmona but no casualties.
Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the Iran-backed group saying it is doing so to support Gaza following its ally Hamas’s brutal terror onslaught against southern Israel the day before.
Tensions have been especially high as the terror group has vowed retaliation for Israel’s killing of top commander Fuad Shukr on July 30, which came after a Hezbollah rocket attack killed 12 children in the Golan Heights days earlier.
So far, the skirmishes have resulted in 26 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 18 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
Hezbollah has named 403 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. In Lebanon, another 70 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier and dozens of civilians have been killed.
Source » timesofisrael.com
