Israel claims it targeted a ‘key figure’ from the Palestinian group Hamas near the coastal Lebanese city of Tripoli.
The attack in the Ayrounieh area on Tuesday came as Israel intensifies its strikes in Lebanon amid Hezbollah’s weakened position, the Lebanese army’s inability to fight back and the international community’s failure to pressure Israel to abide by the truce.
The strike near Lebanon’s northernmost major city – more than 180km (110 miles) from the Israeli border – highlights Israel’s willingness to launch assaults across the country, not just in the south.
The Israeli military claimed that it struck a “key” figure from the Palestinian group Hamas without identifying the target.
A Hamas source in Lebanon told Al Araby TV that no senior official from the group was killed in the strike. Lebanon’s Annahar newspaper reported that initial reports indicated that the assassination attempt might have failed.
Hamas and other Palestinian groups maintain a presence in various areas of Lebanon, mostly in refugee camps that have housed Palestinians for decades. Tripoli is home to the large Beddawi Palestinian refugee camp.
Since the outbreak of the war in Gaza in October 2023, Israel has carried out attacks against the Lebanese group Hezbollah and members of Palestinian factions in Lebanon.
Hamas’s deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri was killed in an Israeli air strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs in early 2024.
While the ceasefire last year ended the conflict, Israel has continued to carry out strikes on what it says are Hezbollah arms depots and fighters, mostly in southern Lebanon. Israeli attacks have also targeted homes, municipal workers and civilian infrastructure.
On Monday, at least one person was killed in a suspected Israeli air attack on a van in the town of Deir Kifa in southern Lebanon.
The recent attacks were launched as United States envoy Thomas Barrack was in Lebanon for a two-day visit to discuss disarming Hezbollah.
On Monday after meeting Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, Barrack told reporters he was “unbelievably satisfied” with Lebanon’s reply to a US proposal on taking away Hezbollah’s weapons.
Barrack, a longtime adviser to US President Donald Trump who also serves as US ambassador to Turkiye and special envoy for Syria, said he believed “the Israelis do not want war with Lebanon”.
“Both countries are trying to give the same thing – the notion of a stand-down agreement, of the cessation of hostilities and a road to peace,” he said.
On Sunday, Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem ruled out giving up the group’s weapons before Israel withdraws from the areas it still occupies in southern Lebanon in violation of the ceasefire.
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