BEIRUT Lebanon: Official media in Lebanon and a Hamas-allied group said one of its commanders had been killed in an Israeli strike on Thursday in the country’s eastern Bekaa valley.
Since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war in the Gaza Strip, Israel has repeatedly targeted the commanders and members of Jamaa Islamiya, whose armed wing in the past nine months has launched attacks on Israel from southern Lebanon.
Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) said that “Jamaa Islamiya commander Mohammed Hamed Jbara” was killed when an “enemy drone” targeted his vehicle in the village of Ghazze, in the Bekaa valley.
Jamaa Islamiya and its armed wing the Fajr Forces in a statement said Jbara, a commander also known as Abu Mahmud, was killed in a “treacherous Zionist raid” in the Bekaa.
Jamaa Islamiya, formed in the 1960s, has claimed responsibility for multiple attacks against Israel, including joint operations with Hamas in Lebanon.
The Fajr Forces, Jamaa Islamiya’s armed wing, was established in 1982 to fight against the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
In June, an Israeli strike on a vehicle in east Lebanon killed a Jamaa Islamiya leader who Israel’s military said supplied weapons to the group and to Hamas.
The cross-border violence since October has killed 512 people in Lebanon, mostly fighters — nine of them from Jamaa Islamiya — according to an AFP tally, but also including at least 104 civilians.
On the Israeli side, 17 soldiers and 13 civilians have been killed, according to authorities.
The exchanges of fire — mostly between Hezbollah and Israeli forces — have largely been restricted to the Lebanon-Israel border area, although Israel has repeatedly struck deeper inside Lebanese territory.
The violence has raised fears of all-out conflict between the two foes, who last went to war in the summer of 2006.
Lebanese media, Hamas-allied group says Israel strike kills commander
https://arab.news/wqdx2
Lebanese media, Hamas-allied group says Israel strike kills commander
- Jamaa Islamiya, formed in the 1960s, has claimed responsibility for multiple attacks against Israel
Abbas reiterates opposition to displacement of Palestinians
- During Moscow talks, president calls for immediate halt to Israeli acts of terror
- Historically, Russia has supported and stood by the Palestinian people at political and diplomatic levels
MOSCOW: The Palestinian National Authority’s President Mahmoud Abbas has reiterated his opposition to all attempts to displace Palestinian people from their land.
Speaking with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the presidential palace in Moscow, Abbas was reported by the Kremlin’s official website as saying that “the Palestinian people are holding on to their land, and we categorically oppose attempts by the Americans and Israelis to expatriate Palestinians beyond Palestinian territory.”
He said the Palestinian people “will not abandon their land, whatever the cost.” Abbas stressed the need to fully implement US President Donald Trump’s peace plan, leading to the withdrawal of occupation forces and the launch of the reconstruction process.
He emphasized that the Palestinian Authority would assume a central role in administering the Gaza Strip, and that the enclave and the West Bank constituted two parts of a single territorial unit, with a unified and undifferentiated system of civilian institutions.
He stressed the need for an immediate halt to “Israeli settler colonialism and Israeli acts of terror in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, along with the release of withheld Palestinian funds and the cessation of all measures that undermined the Palestinian Authority and the two-state solution.”
He reaffirmed his commitment to continue the struggle for the realization of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and of their right to a fully sovereign, independent state based on the borders of June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, while living in security and peace with neighbors.
He told Putin: “What we need is peace, and we hope that with your help and support, we can achieve it — a peace built on the basis of international legal resolutions, decisions of the United Nations, and the principles established following the wars of 1967 and 1973.
“East Jerusalem remains the capital of Palestine, and we know that Russia has always supported — indeed, was the first to support — Palestine, maintaining a firm stance in support of our people.”
Abbas thanked his Russian counterpart for Moscow’s support and commended the bilateral “bonds of friendship” between both countries. He added: “We are friends of Russia and the Russian people. For over 50 years our nations have been bound by a strong friendship that has developed over the decades and continues on the correct path. Russia is a great friend and a nation upon which we rely in many spheres.
“Historically, Russia has supported and stood by the Palestinian people at political and diplomatic levels. Your economic and financial support is both significant in scale and crucial in importance.”
Abbas emphasized moving forward with the implementation of a comprehensive national reform program aimed at consolidating the rule of law, strengthening the principles of good governance, transparency, and accountability, and ensuring the separation of powers.
Putin affirmed Moscow’s “principled and consistent approach” to the Palestinian question.
He said: “We believe that only the establishment and full functioning of the Palestinian state can lead to a lasting settlement of the Middle East conflict.”
