Hezbollah Commander Behind Killing Of Ex-Lebanese PM Eliminated In Israeli Strike: Reports

New Delhi: The Hezbollah commander, who was believed to be behind the killing of a former Lebanese Prime Minister, was reportedly eliminated in an Israeli strike on Syria, reports claimed. The Hezbollah leader, identified as Salim Jamil Ayyash, was killed near the Syrian city of al-Qausayr, a known Hezbollah stronghold, according to unconfirmed reports. A senior member of Hezbollah’s Unit 151 assassination squad, Ayyash was carryig a bounty of $10 million from the United States, according to media reports.Earlier in 2020, he was sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment by a UN-backed tribunal over the assassination of former Lebanese MP Rafiq Hariri in a suicide bombing in Beirut in 2005. However, erstwhile Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, who was also eliminated in an Israeli strike in September this year, did not agree to hand him over to authorities.He also faced a separate case at the tribunal over three other deadly attacks on Lebanese politicians back in 2004 and 2005.Israeli Airstrikes Kill 23 In Lebanon’s Almat The report of Ayyash’s assassination comes at a time when Israeli military has ramped up its operations against the Iran-backed militant group, killing at least 23 individuals, including seven children, in Almat in Lebanon’s Mount Lebanon province, the country’s health ministry said on Sunday.While three people were killed and two others wounded in an Israeli strike on Mashghara in the western part of Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley late on Saturday. The strikes also claimed one life and left four others injured in a strike on Sahmar, also in western Bekaa.Further, a strike from Lebanon on northern Israel left at least six people were wounded on Sunday. Among the six of them, three were reported wounded in an apparent anti-tank missile strike in the northern border town of Metula in Israel.Moreover, the Lebanese health ministry claims that Israeli attacks have killed over 3,100 people and left nearly 14,000 injured in Lebanon over the last year. The toll includes 619 women and 194 children.(With agencies inputs)

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Hezbollah Commander Behind Killing Of Ex-Lebanese PM Eliminated In Israeli Strike: Reports

Salim Jamil Ayyash was killed near the Syrian city of al-Qausayr, a known Hezbollah stronghold, according to unconfirmed reports.

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