Hamas commander killed in Israeli strike in Lebanon’s Bekaa

The Palestinian militant group Hamas announced that one of its commanders was killed in an Israeli airstrike in an eastern district of Lebanon near the Syrian border.

Hamas’ armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, stated that “commander” Sharhabil Sayed was killed by an Israeli aircraft targeting him in Lebanon’s West Bekaa area.

A source close to Hamas, who requested anonymity, told AFP that Sayed was a Hamas official overseeing Lebanon’s Bekaa region and was killed in an Israeli strike that hit his vehicle.

Lebanon’s civil defense agency reported that the Israeli airstrike on a vehicle near Majdal Anjar, a town about five kilometers from the Syrian border and 60 kilometers from Lebanon’s border with Israel, resulted in one death and two injuries.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency also reported one dead and two wounded in an “enemy strike” targeting a vehicle in the same area. An AFP photographer confirmed seeing a destroyed vehicle at the scene.

Earlier that day, Israeli strikes killed a Hezbollah fighter and two children, according to Hezbollah and official media sources.

Following Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, which triggered the ongoing war in Gaza, Hezbollah has been exchanging almost daily fire with Israeli forces across the border. The intensity of these attacks has been increasing, with Israeli forces striking deeper into Lebanese territory and Palestinian factions, along with other allied groups in Lebanon, claiming cross-border attacks.

This week, Hezbollah announced that its chief, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, met with senior Hamas member Khalil al-Hayya.

In March, Hamas reported that one of its members was killed in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon, which state media said killed three people. A strike in January, attributed to Israel by a U.S. defense official, killed Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri and six other militants in Hezbollah’s stronghold in southern Beirut.

The cross-border fighting has resulted in the deaths of at least 419 people in Lebanon, mostly militants, but also including 82 civilians, according to an AFP tally. On the Israeli side, 14 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed.