2024-03-25 22:22:05
A leader in a faction allied with Hamas survived an Israeli drone attack that targeted him on Sunday in eastern Lebanon, a Lebanese security source told AFP.
The source reported that “the group’s leader, Muhammad Assaf, survived a raid” that targeted the town of Al-Suwairi in the western Bekaa on Sunday. The group is a faction closely linked to Hamas.
The same source had previously indicated that a Hamas official was targeted.
A Syrian civilian was killed on Sunday in the strike on the road to the town of Al-Suwairi in the Western Bekaa, according to the official National News Agency.
There has been an almost daily exchange of shelling across the Lebanese-Israeli border between the Lebanese Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, and the Israeli army since the outbreak of war between Israel and the movement in the Gaza Strip on October 7.
For weeks, Israel has launched deeper air strikes inside Lebanese territory once morest Hezbollah positions, increasing fears of the outbreak of open war.
The strike on the town of Al-Suwairi, regarding five kilometers from the border with Syria, was the first targeting of this area in Lebanon since the start of the exchange of bombing once morest the backdrop of the war in Gaza.
The Lebanese National News Agency indicated that the Syrian civilian was working for a supermarket in the area.
The security source told Agence France-Presse that the strike was primarily targeting a leader in the “group” who was passing on the same road and survived the raid.
On March 13, a member of the Hamas movement was killed as a result of an Israeli raid that targeted a car in the Tire area in southern Lebanon.1
On January 2, Deputy Head of the Hamas Political Bureau, Saleh Al-Arouri, was killed along with six of his companions in an air strike that targeted an apartment in the southern suburb of Beirut. Lebanese, Palestinian, and American sources confirmed that Israel was the one that launched this operation.
On February 10, Hamas leader Basil Saleh survived his car being targeted by an Israeli drone in the town of Jadra, regarding 40 kilometers from the Israeli-Lebanese border.
On the night of Saturday and Sunday, five Israeli raids also targeted an abandoned Hezbollah building in the Baalbek area, according to another security source who indicated that four people were injured, including a Hezbollah member.
At least 326 people have been killed in Lebanon since the start of the escalation, most of them Hezbollah fighters, including at least 57 civilians, according to a tally prepared by Agence France-Presse based on party statements and official Lebanese sources.
The current escalation between Hezbollah and Israel has led to the displacement of tens of thousands of residents in the border areas on both sides.
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