Israel kills Hamas official in southern Lebanon

Civil defence workers and Lebanese soldiers gather next to remains of burned car that was hit by an Israeli drone strike, in Sidon, Lebanon, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025. (AP)
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Updated 17 February 2025
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Israel kills Hamas official in southern Lebanon

  • Israeli military said Muhammad Shaheen was the head of the operations department of Hamas in Lebanon
  • A Hamas official confirmed Shaheen’s killing to Reuters

BEIRUT: Israel killed on Monday a Hamas leader in southern Lebanon’s Sidon area, the Israeli military and a Hamas official said.
The military said Muhammad Shaheen was the head of the operations department of Hamas in Lebanon and that he had recently been involved in promoting “terrorist plots” with Iranian direction and funding from Lebanese territory against Israeli citizens.

A Hamas official confirmed Shaheen’s killing to Reuters.
An Israeli strike on a car in Lebanon’s southern port city of Sidon targeted an official in the Palestinian militant group, two Lebanese security sources told Reuters earlier.
Lebanon’s state news agency said rescuers had removed one body from the car but did not identify the victim.
The Israeli military has been carrying out strikes against members of Hamas, allied Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and other factions in Lebanon, in parallel with the war in Gaza.
Those armed groups have launched rockets, drones and artillery attacks across the border into northern Israel.
Under a truce brokered by Washington in November, Israeli troops were granted 60 days to withdraw from southern Lebanon where they had waged a ground offensive against fighters from Iran-backed Hezbollah since early October.
That deadline was later extended to February 18, but Israel’s military requested that it keep troops in five posts in southern Lebanon, sources told Reuters last week.


Syria strongly condemns the terrorist attack near Palmyra

Updated 6 sec ago
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Syria strongly condemns the terrorist attack near Palmyra

  • Palmyra in the Homs countryside witnessed an armed attack targeting a joint patrol of Syrian security forces and US forces

DAMASCUS: Syria strongly condemned the terrorist attack that targeted a joint patrol of Syrian security forces and US forces near the city of Palmyra on Saturday, extending its condolences to the families of the victims as well as to the US government and people, the Syrian News Agency reported.

Earlier, Palmyra in the Homs countryside witnessed an armed attack targeting a joint patrol of Syrian security forces and US forces during a field tour in the area.

A gunman opened fire on the patrol, resulting in the deaths of two US soldiers and a civilian interpreter, in addition to injuring three US soldiers and two Syrian security personnel.

“Syria strongly condemns the terrorist attack that targeted a joint Syrian-US counterterrorism patrol near Palmyra. We extend our condolences to the families of the victims and to the US government and people, and we wish the injured a speedy recovery,” Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan Al-Shaibani said in a post on platform X.