One killed by Israeli strike on car in southern Lebanon: Report
A burned-out car hit by a strike on the outskirts of Lebanon’s southern port city of Sidon, on August 21
Lebanon’s National News Agency is reporting that an Israeli air strike has hit a vehicle near the southern Lebanese city of Sidon, killing one person. Lebanon’s An-Nahar newspaper reported several were injured by the attack.
Footage posted by Lebanese media, verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad fact-checking agency, shows a car in the city engulfed in flames, with thick black smoke rising as a crowd gathers. The strike follows an earlier Israeli attack on the village of Khiam, which killed one person of Syrian descent, according to the National News Agency.
Fatah official killed in Lebanon car strike: Report
People and Lebanese army members gather near a burned-out car after a strike on the outskirts of Lebanon’s southern port city of Sidon, on August 21
The person killed in the attack has been named by Lebanese media as Khalil al-Maqdah, a Palestinian connected to the Fatah movement. Senior Fatah member Fathi Abu al-Aradat told AFP that al-Maqdah was an official with the group.
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed group in the occupied West Bank with ties to Fatah, also described Maqdar as one of its leaders. Al-Maqdah’s brother, Munir, who is a brigadier-general in the group, was quoted in Lebanon’s Al Mayadeen as saying, “The path to victory or martyrdom, and assassinations only make us stronger.”
Israeli assassinations becoming near-daily in Lebanon
We are 40km (25 miles) south of Beirut, 55km (34 miles) from the [Israeli] border, the main battleground between Israel and Hezbollah. What we understand from security sources is that there was an apparent Israeli drone strike.
The strike targeted Khalil al-Maqdah, a commander in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a loose coalition of Palestinian groups that believe in armed resistance. The Martyrs Brigades issued a statement, calling [al-Maqdah] a commander who played a key role in supporting the Palestinian people and supporting Palestinian resistance in the West Bank.
A short while ago, we saw the Lebanese army take away the car that [al-Maqdah] was targeted in. Israel has been escalating its attacks as of late, expanding the scope of its attacks. And clearly there’s no front line any longer.
Targeted killings are becoming a near-daily occurrence.
Israeli military claims Lebanon car strike
The Israeli military has confirmed it carried out an air strike near Lebanon’s Sidon that killed Khalil al-Maqdah, a Palestinian linked to the Fatah movement and an armed group in the occupied West Bank.
In a statement, Israel’s military accused al-Maqdah of working with his brother, Mounir al-Maqdah, to smuggle weapons into the occupied West Bank, at the behest of Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The military said it would continue to strike at Lebanon-based targets who direct “terrorist activity” in the occupied West Bank.
Israel’s assassination of Khalil al-Maqdah aimed at starting ‘full-scale war’: Fatah official
A senior Fatah official has accused Israel of “assassinating” compatriot Khalil al-Maqdah in Lebanon in order to inflame regional conflict.
Speaking to the AFP news agency, Fatah official Tawfiq Tirawy said al-Maqdah’s assassination “is further proof that Israel wants to ignite a full-scale war in the region”.
Israel’s attacks in Lebanon during the Gaza war have killed in excess of 600 people, including more than 130 civilians.
Israel should ‘not miss opportunity’ to strike back at Hezbollah: Ben-Gvir
Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has visited the site of an earlier Hezbollah rocket attack in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and called for an “unequivocal” response from Israel.
The attack damaged property and injured one person, according to Israeli media.
“You also have to attack, you also have to make a campaign,” Ben-Gvir said while visiting the settlement of Katzrin, according to The Times of Israel. “This is the opportunity we must not miss.”
“The State of Israel needs to respond in the most unequivocal, clearest way,” he said, while lobbying for more influence over Israel’s war policy.
