The apartment destroyed by an Israeli drone strike in Saida, southern Lebanon, which resulted in at least three deaths on April 4, 2025. (Credit: Muntasser Abdallah/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — A Hamas commander, his son and his daughter were killed overnight when an Israeli drone launched two missiles at their apartment in Saida's Dlaiaa neighborhood, in the center of Saida, just a few dozen meters from the municipal buildings.
Israel announced the strike later this morning, saying it had killed senior Hamas official Hassan Farhat, who Hamas later confirmed was a commander in its military wing, al-Qassem Brigades.
Two explosions were heard around 3 a.m. The strike, which hit a fourth-floor apartment, blowing out its outer walls and engulfing it in flames, is the first reported Israeli strike in Saida since Feb. 17, when a drone strike killed senior Hamas commander Mohammad Chahine.
The Israeli army claimed that Farhat was planning attacks against Israel and that he was "responsible for launching rockets against the Tsafat [Safad] region, which caused the death of an Israeli soldier and wounded other soldiers, on Feb. 14, 2024.”
The Health Ministry confirmed the three deaths, which included Farhat's son Hamza, also affiliated with Hamas, and his daughter Junan. “They were martyred in a Zionist air strike that hit their home in Saida in southern Lebanon on Friday morning,” Hamas said.
Shortly after the attack, dozens of people staged a protest in the nearby Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp, Lebanon’s largest, in solidarity with Gaza.
Residents in shock
On Friday morning, local residents were still in shock. “I was awakened by a huge explosion. I jumped up in bed and ran to my little daughter's room, and we hid in the bathroom,” a resident of the building opposite the one hit told L'Orient Today. “I didn't know where the explosion had occurred, but I thought it was in my building because the detonation was so loud, before I saw the building opposite catch fire,” he said.
In the building next to the victims' Em Ehsan feared for her own life too. “I was getting ready to pray when I heard the explosion. I fell to the ground and didn't have the strength to get up. The smoke filled the house, so much so that I was about to suffocate. I was afraid of dying without anyone knowing,” she said.
Nawaf Salam condemns attack
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam condemned the Israeli strike, saying that “targeting the city of Saida, or any other Lebanese region, is a blatant assault on Lebanese sovereignty and a clear violation of [U.N.] Resolution 1701 and the security arrangements agreement for the cessation of hostilities.”
Salam stressed the need to "exert maximum pressure on Israel to compel it to halt its ongoing attacks on various areas, particularly residential areas," and emphasized that a "complete cessation of military operations is necessary.”
Despite the cease-fire agreement that came into force on Nov. 27, the Israeli army regularly carries out strikes in eastern and southern Lebanon. Hezbollah Secretary General Naim Qassem warned on Saturday that if the Lebanese state failed to achieve political results in the face of Israeli violations, “other options” would be considered.
