Hamas leader assassinated in Israeli raid in southern Lebanon | News

The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades mourned the martyr Samer al-Hajj, who was killed when the occupation forces bombed his vehicle at the entrance to the city of Sidon in southern Lebanon. The occupation army also claimed responsibility for the assassination in a statement.

Hamas said in a statement that it “mourns with great pride and honor the martyred Mujahid leader Samer al-Hajj, who was killed in a treacherous Zionist raid in the city of Sidon, south of Lebanon, on Friday afternoon.”

Earlier, the Lebanese Ministry of Health announced the death of a Palestinian and the injury of two people in an Israeli raid on a car in the city of Sidon, southern Lebanon.

AFP quoted an unnamed Lebanese security source as saying that the person it described as the Hamas security official in the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp was killed today, Friday, in an Israeli airstrike that targeted his car in southern Lebanon.

In turn, security sources told Al Jazeera Net that the targeting was carried out by a drone that fired two missiles that directly hit the car, leading to the death of one person inside it and the injury of another.

The sources added that the security and military forces imposed a cordon around the place to verify the identity of the martyr. Eyewitnesses also reported that the car caught fire following the raid, before paramedics retrieved a charred body from it.

In another incident in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese Ministry of Health said that two people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the town of Naqoura.

The ministry added that 8 people were injured yesterday, Thursday, in Israeli raids on the towns of Hanawiya and Yaron.

Hezbollah mourned two fighters who were killed in the raids.

The Israeli occupation army announced in a statement that the two fighters were identified “as they were leaving a military building” belonging to the party in the Naqoura area, and the air force was able to “eliminate” them, according to its claim.

Hezbollah attacks

Later, Hezbollah announced that it had carried out 8 attacks against Israeli targets, and said that it had attacked the headquarters of the Western Brigade in Lyman with drones, and had bombed with Katyusha rockets and blown up the headquarters of the 769th Brigade in the Kiryat Shmona barracks, and had also targeted the Samaka site, buildings in Manara and Kiryat Shmona, and soldiers at the Matula site.

Israeli media confirmed that 20 rockets were launched from southern Lebanon towards Kiryat Shmona in two waves, and the Israeli army intercepted a number of rockets, while other rockets fell in open areas.

Sources also said that two buildings in Kibbutz Manara were hit by two anti-tank missiles fired from southern Lebanon.

She also pointed out that the town of Matla was bombed with 4 rockets from southern Lebanon.

The Israeli Home Front Command has asked residents of Israeli towns bordering Lebanon to exercise caution and remain close to protected areas until further notice.

As tensions escalate, the US embassy in Beirut issued a new reminder on Friday to its citizens who choose not to leave Lebanon to prepare contingency plans to deal with emergency situations.

The embassy directed its citizens who wish to leave Lebanon to book any ticket available to them, even if that flight does not depart immediately, or does not follow the route of their first choice.

The continuation of the escalation comes amid international efforts to defuse the explosion in the region after Iran and its allies vowed to respond to the killing of the head of the political bureau of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran, and the prominent military commander of Hezbollah, Fouad Shukr, near Beirut.