Middle East

Lebanese Hezbollah leader killed in Syria, Israeli airstrike attack suspected

Hezbollah leader Samir Kuntar, of the Palestine Liberation Front, has reportedly been killed in a “terror attack” in Damascus, Syrian state TV said, citing official sources. Hezbollah earlier backed reports that he had been killed in an alleged Israeli airstrike.

Kuntar was reportedly killed in the district of Jermana in the Syrian capital, Syrian TV added.

Damascus radio station Sham FM has reported that Kuntar’s body was recovered from under the wreckage of the building.

Reuters initially cited Syrian state TV as saying that several people had been injured, after rockets launched by “terrorist groups” hit a building in the Jaramana district of Damascus.

Hezbollah has not immediately confirmed whether the Lebanese Druze Kuntar (also spelled as Quntar), who is one of the most hated Hezbollah leaders in Israel, was killed or injured in the bombing, or if he was at the site at all.

In the meantime, Israeli Construction and Housing Minister Yoav Gallant welcomed the alleged death of the Lebanese leader.

It is good that people like Samir Qantar will not be part of our world,” he told Israel Radio.

He refused to confirm or deny Israeli involvement in the affair, however.

Samir Kuntar spent 29 years in Israeli prison. In 2008, Kuntar was released in an Israeli-Hezbollah prisoner exchange. His name caused further controversy as he and other prisoners were welcomed at home with a celebratory ceremony involving government officials and the head of state. Kuntar later became known as a leader of militia based in Hader and a loyalist to the Syrian government.

Since his 2008 release, Israeli media on multiple occasions claimed that Kuntar had been killed, including during Israeli strikes on Syria. However, none of the reports had been confirmed.

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