Fatah leader killed in Israeli attack in Lebanon

It is the first time since 7 October that an Israeli attack has been reported against Fatah, the party that rules parts of the occupied West Bank.

– An airstrike hit the terrorist Khalil Makdah in the area of ​​Saida in southern Lebanon, says a statement from the Israeli military. The statement further states that Makdah was the brother of Mounir Makdah, who heads the Lebanese section of Fatah’s armed wing, the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades.

Both brothers are accused by Israel of leading terrorist attacks and smuggling weapons to the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Hit car

The attack and the killing of Makdah are also confirmed by Fatah and a Lebanese security source, reports AFP. An AFP correspondent at the scene says a car was hit near the Palestinian camps of Ain al-Helweh and Mieh Mieh. He added that emergency services pulled a dead person out of the charred vehicle.

In a statement, Makdah is described as one of the leaders of the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, and that he had a central role in supporting the Palestinian people and their resistance during the Gaza war and an important role in supporting resistance cells in the West Bank over several year.

“The killing of a Fatah leader is further proof that Israel wants to launch a full-scale war in the region,” Tawfiq Tirawy, a member of Fatah’s central committee, told AFP.

Attack each other

According to AFP’s correspondent, dozens of angry Fatah supporters have gathered inside the Ain al-Helweh camp, and that shots have been fired into the air there.

During more than ten months of war, Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia have attacked each other repeatedly. According to an AFP tally, the violence has killed around 593 people in Lebanon, most of them Hezbollah fighters, but at least 130 of them civilians.

On the Israeli side, including in the annexed Golan Heights, 23 soldiers and 26 civilians have been killed, according to figures from the Israeli military.