Israel killed a commander of the Palestinian militant group Hamas in an airstrike on southern Lebanon on Friday, further testing a ceasefire that halted last year's war between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah group.
Sidon, Lebanon © Mena Today
Israel killed a commander of the Palestinian militant group Hamas in an airstrike on southern Lebanon on Friday, further testing a ceasefire that halted last year's war between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah group.
The Israeli military said the targeted militant, Hassan Farhat, was behind a rocket attack on the city of Safed last year that killed and wounded several Israeli soldiers. It vowed to act against Hamas fighters "wherever they operate".
A security source said Farhat was killed along with his son and daughter in the strike in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon. Hamas' armed wing the al-Qassam Brigades said Farhat was assassinated in his apartment in Sidon, and praised his "blessed contributions" to the confrontation with Israel over the years.
Hamas and Hezbollah are allies, and Hezbollah launched a campaign of cross border strikes on Israel in solidarity with the Palestinian group in 2023. Israel responded with a major air and ground campaign in Lebanon last year that killed much of the Hezbollah leadership.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam's office said Friday's Israeli attack was a clear violation of a U.S.-backed ceasefire which ended last year's war between Israel and Hezbollah.
The ceasefire has appeared increasingly precarious in recent weeks, with Israel striking the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut twice and rockets being fired on two occasions from Lebanon towards Israel.
Hezbollah has denied any role in the recent rocket fire.
Reporting by Tala Ramadan
Israeli forces killed four people in southern Lebanon on Monday, Lebanon's National News Agency reported, citing the health ministry, in two separate strikes that the Israeli military said targeted members of the Shi'ite Muslim armed group Hezbollah.
Israel has taken steps to help settlers acquire land in the occupied West Bank and widen its powers in parts of the territory where Palestinians have some self-rule - measures they said aimed to undermine the two-state solution.
Kuwait has added eight Lebanese hospitals to its national sanctions list over alleged links to terrorism, according to the Kuwaiti daily Al-Rai. The hospitals are all located in areas where Hezbollah is influential: southern Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley, and Beirut’s southern suburbs.
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