Lebanese Media: Israeli Drone Kills 2 Hamas Members in Southern Lebanon

Saturday, 20 January 2024 2:04 PM

Press TV

This picture purportedly shows the aftermath of an Israeli drone strike against a car as it was traveling along a road linking Bazourieh area to Burj el-Shemali region in South Lebanon, Lebanon, on January 20, 2024. (Photo via social media)

Lebanon’s media outlets say 2 members of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas have been killed in an Israeli drone strike targeting a car in the south of the country.

The media outlets, citing local sources, reported that the strike was carried out on Saturday afternoon as the vehicle was traveling along a road linking the Bazourieh area to Burj el-Shemali region in the southern district of Tyre.

The Israeli drone attack came amid strikes by fighters from Lebanon’s resistance movement Hezbollah against Israeli military positions in response to the ongoing Israeli genocidal campaign in the besieged Gaza Strip.

It has been a string of assassinations by the regime in the recent past.

On January 2, senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri was assassinated in a “treacherous Zionist strike” on Beirut’s southern suburb of Dahiyeh, the Gaza-based resistance movement announced on its official channel. Hamas politburo member Izzat al-Rishq called it a “cowardly assassination.”

Arouri was known to be deeply involved in Hamas’ military affairs. He had previously headed the group in the occupied West Bank.

Saleh al-Arouri, the deputy chief of Hamas’ political bureau and a founding member of the resistance group’s military wing, was assassinated in an Israeli drone strike in Beirut on Tuesday.

Also on Saturday, an Israeli military aircraft targeted a house in Marwahin town on the border with the 1948-occupied territories.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported that the building has been repeatedly bombed as cross-border fighting has escalated since the start of Israel’s hostilities in Gaza early October.

Israeli fighter jets, meanwhile, carried out a wave of airstrikes against Odaisseh village in southern Lebanon. 

The Israeli military alleged in a statement that the attacks targeted an observation post, a rocket launch position and other infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah.

Israeli artillery shelling also targeted the outskirts of Alma al-Shaab and al-Dhayra villages as well as the Marjeyoun plain and the Hamames hill.

Hezbollah strikes Israeli outposts in solidarity with Gaza

For its part, Hezbollah announced an attack on Israeli forces stationed at an outpost in the town of Zar'it, close to the border with Lebanon.

Lebanese resistance fighters also targeted gatherings of Israeli troops at the Hounine and Dhayra areas.

A senior Hezbollah official says Israel should expect a “strong slap in the face” if it decides to raise the ante and wage an all-out war on Lebanon.

The Israeli regime launched its devastating hostilities in the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, after the Hamas-led Palestinian resistance groups carried out surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity.

The Israeli military has also been carrying out attacks against the Lebanese territory since then, prompting retaliatory strikes from Hezbollah. The movement has vowed to keep up retaliatory operations as long as the regime continues its onslaught on Gaza.

The regime has killed more than 24,700 people, most of them women and children, in Gaza since.