Hamas says leader in Lebanon killed

Department of Security and Military Research and Studies 01-10-2024

Palestinian militant group Hamas said its leader in Lebanon was killed on Monday in a strike on the country’s south, as official media reported a strike on a Palestinian refugee camp.

“Fatah Sharif Abu al-Amine, the leader of Hamas… in Lebanon and member of the movement’s leadership abroad” was killed in an airstrike on his “home in the Al-Bass camp in south Lebanon”, a Hamas statement said.

It said he was killed with his wife, son and daughter in an “assassination”.

The official National News Agency reported an airstrike on Al-Bass near the city of Tyre, saying it was the “first time” the camp had been targeted.

The statement came hours after the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a secular left-wing group, said three of its members were killed in a strike on Beirut’s Kola district early on Monday.

It is Israel’s first strike on the capital city center since the outbreak of the Gaza conflict last year.

Israel has repeatedly targeted Hamas officials in Lebanon since the Gaza conflict erupted almost a year ago.

Israel has turned its focus from Gaza to Lebanon in recent days, carrying out attacks on Iran’s regional allies. Strikes on Hezbollah targets killed the Iran-backed group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday.

On Monday, Sheikh Naim Qassem, Hezbollah’s deputy leader said the group will continue to defend Lebanon and to support Gaza despite losing Nasrallah and many commanders.

Israel also vows to “continue to attack powerfully, damage and degrade Hezbollah’s military capabilities and infrastructure in Lebanon”, the army said in a statement on Telegram.

AFP journalists reported drones flying over the Lebanese capital throughout Sunday.

Israeli attacks have killed hundreds in Lebanon since last Monday, the deadliest day since the country’s 1975-1990 civil war.

Lebanon’s health ministry reported at least 105 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Sunday, with 359 people wounded.

In the last week, Israeli bombardments have killed more than 700 people, including 14 paramedics over two days, the ministry said.

UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi said “well over 200,000 people are displaced inside Lebanon” and more than 50,000 have fled to neighboring Syria.

Israeli aggression in Lebanon has sparked fears of an all-out war in the Middle East.

Israel said it also carried out strikes in Yemen on Sunday, targeting Iran-backed Houthi positions.

Houthi media reports said those strikes killed four people and wounded 33.

The raids in Yemen came a day after the Houthis said they launched a missile at an Israeli airport, trying to hit it as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was returning from New York.