Drone attacks SUV
Israel kills Hamas leader in refugee camp in Lebanon
09.08.2024, 22:52
Around 80,000 people live in the Lebanese refugee camp Ain al-Hilwah. Now there is a drone attack in the camp. A local Hamas commander is killed. Israel blames him for terrorist attacks. A protest march takes place in the camp.
Israel has killed a Hamas member in a drone attack in the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon. Samir al-Hajj was responsible for security in the Ain al-Hilwah camp, according to Palestinian and Lebanese security sources. With around 80,000 residents, it is the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon. Hamas mourned the loss of the commander.
During the attack, the drone fired two rockets at a vehicle deep in the country. The state agency NNA also reported that an Israeli drone attacked an off-road vehicle near Sidon, south of Beirut, with rockets. Hamas also confirmed the death of Al-Hajj.
Israel’s military said it had killed Al-Hajj on the orders of Israeli intelligence. Al-Hajj was responsible for terrorist attacks on Israel and shelling of the country from Lebanon. He was a military commander in the camp and was also responsible for “recruiting and training terrorists.”
Palestinians protest against the attack
According to Lebanese media, hundreds of residents of the camp began a protest march after the attack. Some called on Hamas leader Yahya al-Sinwar to “destroy” the Israeli coastal metropolis of Tel Aviv.
Ain al-Hilwah is a recurrent site of unrest, some of it deadly. Most of the residents are refugees from the first Arab-Israeli war in 1948 and their descendants. Other Palestinian residents were expelled there during the Lebanese civil war (1975-90). Palestinians also came from Syria because of the civil war there.
Since the killing of two of Israel’s highest-ranking enemies from the ranks of Hamas and the Hezbollah militia, there are fears that the firefights between Hezbollah and Israel could escalate. The militia is also allied with the Islamist Hamas.