An Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon killed Samer al-Hajj, a Hamas security official, and injured critically his bodyguard on Friday evening, according to Reuters.
The strike targeted their car near Sidon, roughly 60 kilometers from the Israeli border.
For the past 10 months, the Israeli military has been conducting strikes against members of Hamas, Hezbollah, and other armed groups in Lebanon, coinciding with the Gaza conflict. These groups have responded with rockets, drones, and artillery fire across the border into northern Israel.
While most hostilities have occurred along the Israel-Lebanon border, Israeli strikes have increasingly targeted senior figures deeper within Lebanon. In January, an Israeli strike near Beirut killed Saleh Arouri, Hamas’s deputy chief. Last week, another strike in the same area killed Fuad Shukr, Hezbollah’s top military commander.
The recent killing of Shukr was followed by the assassination of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. Iran, along with its regional allies Hezbollah and Hamas, has accused Israel of these attacks and vowed retaliation.