BEIRUT: A security source said a leader of the Lebanese Islamist group Jamaa Islamiya was killed in an Israeli strike on a vehicle in the eastern part of the country on Saturday.
Since the Israel-Hamas war started on October 7, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and other groups allied with the Palestinian groups have traded near-daily fire with Israel across the southern border.
“A leader of the Al-Fajr Forces of the Jamaa Islamiya, Ayman Ghotmeh, was killed in an Israeli strike in Khiara in the western Bekaa,” 10 kilometres (six miles) from the border with Syria, the source told Western media on condition of anonymity.
The Fajr Forces, Jamaa Islamiya was founded in 1982 to fight the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. The group with a strength of 500, has claimed responsibility for many attacks against Israel.
Lebanon’s state-run ANI news agency reported that one person was killed when a car was hit in Khiara and that the victim was from the nearby village of Lala, without providing further details.
Israel’s military has said an aircraft conducted a precise strike in the Beqaa area in Lebanon against Ayman Ghotmeh, who according to them supplied arms to Hamas and Jamaa Islamiya in Lebanon.
The Israeli statement added that he was targeted for his involvement in the promotion of anti-Israel activities. Jamaa Islamiya did not immediately announce any deaths.
The group on April 26 said two of their leaders were killed in an Israeli strike in eastern Lebanon. More than eight months of violence on the Israel-Lebanon border has killed at least 480 people in Lebanon.
Heightened tensions in recent days on the Israel-Lebanon border have increased fears of an expanded regional conflict.
