Senior Hamas official in Lebanon survives Israeli strike

Beirut, Lebanon – AFP

A senior Hamas official survived Saturday an Israeli assassination attempt in Lebanon, a Palestinian security source told AFP, with rescuers reporting two civilians killed in the strike south of Beirut.

Israeli forces and Lebanese movement Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, have traded near-daily fire since Israel launched the current war on Gaza.

But the Israel-Lebanon violence has been largely contained to the border area, and Saturday’s strike was the second-farthest deadly attack from the frontier in four months of hostilities.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said Israeli forces struck a car in the coastal town of Jadra, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the border.

The Palestinian source, requesting anonymity for security concerns, said the strike “was a failed attempt to assassinate a senior official in the (Hamas) movement”.

An official with the Lebanese Risala Scout association, which operates rescue teams and is affiliated with the Hezbollah-allied Amal movement, told AFP that two civilians had been killed.

The official identified them as a vegetable vendor and a Syrian man on a motorbike who both happened to be nearby.

There was no immediate comment from Israel.

An AFP photographer at the scene saw a damaged car and a charred motorcycle nearby, with bloodstains all over the site of the strike near the beach in Jadra.