Off the wire
• 1st LD: Landslide hits industrial park in S China, casualties likely  • Stable development of Macao benefited from support of central gov't: chief executive  • Turkish Super League results/standings  • NBA standings  • NBA results  • NHL results  • Starters of Sanfrecce Hiroshima vs Guangzhou Evergrande in FIFA Club WC  • 1st LD: 3 dead, 39 rescued after Indonesian boat capsizes in storm  • Urgent: Israeli airstrike kills senior Hezbollah figure in Syria  • Yearender: 2015 sees global efforts for food security, sustainable agricultural development  
You are here: 　 Home

1st LD: Israeli airstrike kills senior Hezbollah figure in Syria

Xinhua, December 20, 2015 Adjust font size:

Israeli airstrike overnight targeted a dwelling of Samir Kuntar, a senior member of the Lebanese Hezbollah group, in east of the capital Damascus, killing him and destroying the entire building, state media and sources said Sunday.

The Israeli strike struck the building where Kuntar was staying in the predominantly-Druze district of Jaramanah east of Damascus late on Saturday, Hezbollah and some local press said.

Kuntar, a Lebanese man from the Druze sect who was convicted by Israel for the killing of civilians in 1979, was released during a prisoner swap between Israel and Hezbollah in 2008, after which he joined the Shiite group.

Hezbollah has been engaged in the battles alongside the Syrian army in the face of the nearly five-years insurgency, which the Syrian government blames on a foreign plot, in which Israel is playing a role.

Israel has repeatedly carried out airstrikes in Syria, claiming it was targeting Hezbollah-bound weapons. Still, it wasn't clear why targeting Kuntar in this particular time in Jaramanah.

The Syrian government has yet to comment on the incident. Endit