BEIRUT, Lebanon: A Lebanese official from a Hamas-allied group escaped an attempted killing Sunday as an Israeli drone strike targeted eastern Lebanon, a Lebanese security source said on Monday.
Lebanon’s official National News Agency said the strike near the village of Suwairi in the Bekaa Valley, however, killed a Syrian civilian in his vehicle.
The security source, which spoke to media on condition of anonymity said the target was Mohammad Assaf of Jamaa Islamiya, a Lebanese militant group closely linked to Palestinian fighter group Hamas.
Mohammad Assaf was travelling on the road that was struck at the time of the attack, according to the source, who had initially identified the target as a Hamas official in Lebanon.
Since war started between Israel and Hamas, Israeli forces along the country’s northern border with Lebanon have exchanged near-daily fire with the Hamas ally, Hezbollah.
Israel has also targeted Hamas and Hezbollah officials on Lebanese soil, including in strikes deep into Lebanese territory.
The strike in the Suwairi area, near Lebanon’s border with Syria marked the first such Israeli attack there in nearly six months of war in Gaza.
Another security source said that pre-dawn Israeli strikes on Sunday injured four people, including a Hezbollah member, in Baalbek, further north in the Bekaa Valley.
The cross-border violence since Gaza war erupted has killed at least 326 people in Lebanon, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also 57 civilians, according to media reports.
