Beirut, Oct 5 (EFE).- An Israeli air strike on a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon early Saturday morning killed at least four people, including the leader of the armed wing of Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Saeed Atallah, the leader of the al-Qassam Brigades, was killed along with three of his relatives after an attack on a building near the Al-Beddawi refugee camp on the outskirts of the northern city of Tripoli, the official Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) reported.
That attack came shortly after Israel alerted residents of the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut, an area known as the Dahye that is an important stronghold for Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, Hamas’ ally.
Further south near the border with Israel, Hezbollah said it had been engaged in armed clashes with Israeli troops since Friday night near the village of Adaisseh. There have also been reports of a Hezbollah rocket attack on IDF forces near Yaroun, also in southern Lebanon.
While the IDF has not commented on those Hezbollah attacks, it did say that its special forces had “dismantled Hezbllah weapons storage facilities and tunnel shafts” and “eliminated dozens of terrorists.”
Cross-border violence between Israel and Hezbollah – which had been simmering since the day after Israel launched its offensive against Hamas in Gaza last year – has severely escalated in recent weeks.
After a week of heavy bombardments on the south and east of the country, Israel announced on Sep. 30 that troops were poised to enter southern Lebanon to dismantle Hezbollah militia infrastructure. Hezbollah has been firing dozens of rockets and missiles into northern Israel, most of which have been intercepted.
Israeli forces have also launched almost daily airstrikes on Beirut, focusing mainly on the southern suburbs of the capital, a Hezbollah stronghold, and have killed several senior of the organization, including its secretary general, Hassan Nasrallah.
The bombardment has already left nearly 2,000 people dead and over one million displaced, according to Lebanese authorities. EFE
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