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Israel, Hamas react to assassination of senior Hezbollah leader

Xinhua, December 20, 2015 Adjust font size:

Ministers with the Israeli cabinet welcomed Sunday the killing of Lebanese militant leader Samir Kuntar in Syria but declined to confirm allegations of Israeli involvement.

Kuntar was assassinated outside Damascus on Saturday night, in an airstrike that Hezbollah claimed to be carried out by Israel.

Israeli Minister of National Infrastructures and Energy Yuval Steinitz said Sunday in Jerusalem that he would not comment on "rumors in the media" about Israeli responsibility for the killing, but said he is pleased with the result.

"I won't be sorry if it's true, he was a despicable person," said Steinitz.

Kuntar, a Lebanese of a Druze origin, served time in an Israeli jail for the murder of three Israeli civilians in 1979, including a young girl.

He was freed in a prisoner swap between Israel and Hezbollah in 2008, after which he joined the Shiite group and became a high-ranking militant.

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked told Army Radio that Israel did not assume responsibility for the assassination, but she was "happy to learn the news."

"He was an arch-terrorist who killed a four-year-old girl by fracturing her skull and had gone back to his terrorist activities after being released," she said. "It's a good thing he met his maker," she added.

Meanwhile, Islamic Hamas movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, condemned on Sunday the killing of Samir Kuntar.

Sami Abu Zuhri, the movement's spokesman in Gaza, said in an emailed press statement that Hamas condemns the crime of assassination Kuntar, adding that the international community "must be responsible towards the Israeli roistering."

Hezbollah has been engaged in the battles alongside the Syrian army against a nearly five-year 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.

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