Senior Hamas official in Lebanon survives Israeli strike, 2 others killed including Hezbollah member, 3 injured

A senior Hamas official survived Saturday an Israeli assassination attempt in Lebanon, a Palestinian security source told AFP, with rescuers reporting two civilians killed in Jadra, north of Saida.

Israeli forces and Lebanese movement Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, have traded near-daily fire since war broke out on Oct. 7 between Israel and Hamas.

But the Israel-Lebanon violence has been largely contained to the border area, and Saturday's strike was the second-farthest deadly attack from the frontier in four months of hostilities.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) said Israeli forces struck a car in the coastal town of Jadra, about 70 kilometers from the border.

The Palestinian source, requesting anonymity for security concerns, said the strike "was a failed attempt to assassinate a senior official in the [Hamas] movement."

An official with the Lebanese Risala Scout Association, which operates rescue teams and is affiliated with the Hezbollah-allied Amal movement, told AFP that two civilians had been killed.

The official identified them as a vegetable vendor and a Syrian man on a motorbike who both happened to be nearby.

There was no immediate comment from Israel.

An AFP photographer at the scene saw a damaged car and a charred motorcycle nearby, with bloodstains all over the site of the strike near the beach in Jadra.

According to our correspondent, Hezbollah says one of its members, Khalil Fares, has been killed. It is widely believed that he died in the Israeli strike that targeted a car in the town of Jadra, which is north of Saida. He originally came from the village of Aitaroun (Bint Jbeil district), according to a statement by the group.

This marks the second deepest strike by Israel since the killing of Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut's southern Suburbs.