Lebanon— An Israeli strike killed the commander of a Hamas-allied group in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley on Thursday, state media and the group said. Israel confirmed it carried out the strike.
Since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel sparked war in the Gaza Strip, Israel has repeatedly targeted commanders and members of Jamaa Islamiya, whose armed wing has launched attacks on Israel from southern Lebanon over the past nine months.
Lebanon’s official National News Agency said Jamaa Islamiya commander Mohammed Hamed Jbara was killed when an “enemy drone” targeted his vehicle in the village of Ghazze, in the Bekaa Valley.
In a statement, Jamaa Islamiya and its armed wing the Fajr Forces said Jbara, a commander also known as Abu Mahmud, was killed in an Israeli raid in the Bekaa.
Mohammad Jbara, a senior official of the Islamic Group, has been assassinated in a targeted Israeli airstrike in the Beqaa region, eastern Lebanon. pic.twitter.com/cr1c00tizw
— War Watch (@WarWatchs) July 18, 2024
Hamas’s armed wing also announced Jbara’s death and said he was one of its commanders.
The Israeli military said the air force “eliminated” Jbara in a strike on the Bekaa, identifying him as “a Hamas operative in Lebanon”.
He was “responsible for carrying out terror attacks and missile launches” against Israel, including attacks “coordinated” with Jamaa Islamiya, it said in a statement.
Jamaa Islamiya, formed in the 1960s, has claimed responsibility for multiple attacks against Israel, including joint operations with Hamas in Lebanon.
The Fajr Forces, Jamaa Islamiya’s armed wing, was established in 1982 to fight against the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
In June, an Israeli strike on a vehicle in east Lebanon killed a Jamaa Islamiya leader who Israel’s military said supplied weapons to the group and to Hamas.
A Jamaa Islamiya official requesting anonymity had previously told AFP that two members of the group were serving as bodyguards to Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Aruri and were killed along with him in a January strike blamed on Israel in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
The cross-border violence since October has killed 512 people in Lebanon, mostly fighters — nine of them from Jamaa Islamiya — according to an AFP tally, but also including at least 104 civilians.
📹Mohammad Jbara, a senior official of the Islamic Group, has been assassinated in a targeted Israeli airstrike in the #Bekaa region, eastern Lebanon.#Lebanon @QudsNen pic.twitter.com/k2iLY7b55B
— ⚡️🌎 World News 🌐⚡️ (@ferozwala) July 18, 2024
On the Israeli side, 17 soldiers and 13 civilians have been killed, according to authorities.
The exchanges of fire — mostly between Hezbollah and Israeli forces — have largely been restricted to the Lebanon-Israel border area, although Israel has repeatedly struck deeper inside Lebanese territory.
The violence has raised fears of all-out conflict between the two foes, who last went to war in the summer of 2006.
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Source: AFP
Picture: Pixabay
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