What we know about Israel's first strike on Sour

For the first time since the war between Israel and Hezbollah began in October, the major southern Lebanese coastal city of Sour was targeted, albeit on its outskirts, by the Israeli army.

What do we know about the attack?

At around 9 a.m., an Israeli drone fired a missile at a car passing near the Safieddine service station on the road between Sour and al-Haouch, at the crossroads leading to Rashidieh Palestinian refugee camp.

The explosion caused the car to erupt in flames and firefighters rushed to extinguish the flames. Rescue workers extracted two victims from the shell of the vehicle, while an Israeli drone continued to circle overhead.

A man on a motorcycle had been passing by the car the moment it was targeted and was also killed in the blast.

A second, unexploded missile was detonated by the Lebanese Army not far from the site of the car strike.

Who was the target?

Hamas announced the death of Hadi Mustafa, one of its members who was in the vehicle, without giving any further information on his role within the movement. Mustafa lived in Rashidieh, the Palestinian refugee camp next to where the strike took place and he came from a family of teachers — his brother and wife both work in schools in the area. The Union of Palestinian Teachers in Lebanon issued a statement paying tribute to him.

The Israeli army confirmed that it had eliminated "a central figure" of Hamas in Lebanon. According to a post on X by the army's Arabic-speaking spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, Hadi Moustapha "directed sabotage cells and field operations in several countries," and was a key figure in Hamas' "construction department," headed by Samir Fandi, a close associate of Saleh al-Arouri. Both were killed in an Israeli strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut on Jan. 2.

Who were the other victims?

A man from Syria who passed by the car on his motorcycle at the time of the attack, was killed.

Another person, unidentified as of yet, was extracted from the vehicle itself and is currently in a serious condition.

Three civilians were slightly injured in the blast.

Some background information

This is the first time that the direct suburb of Sour has been targeted by an Israeli strike since the start of cross-border fighting between Hezbollah and Israel in October.

Sour is located some twenty kilometers from the border and is surrounded by three Palestinian refugee camps: Rashidieh, around five kilometers to the south, al-Buss, east of the city, and Bourj al-Shemali, also to the east.

Prior to today's attack, Israel last targeted a member of Hamas in Lebanon on Jan. 22 when it killed al-Qassam Brigades member Mohammed Bassem Azzam, who was from the Mieh Mieh Palestinian refugee camp near the Lebanese coastal city of Saida. The group announced Azzam's death saying he was “martyred during his mission in southern Lebanon.”

Most prominently, however, was the Jan. 2 assassination of deputy political leader of Hamas Saleh al-Arouri and six other members — two of them also leaders — at a Hezbollah office in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

In December, the Wall Street Journal reported that Israeli officials had launched on a worldwide campaign of assassinations of Hamas leaders. With orders from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s top spy agencies had started working on plans to hunt down Hamas leaders living in Lebanon, Turkey, and Qatar, which has allowed the group to run a political office in Doha for a decade, the officials said, cited by the WSJ.