Israel Kills Leaders Of Palestine Group PFLP In Beirut; Hamas Chief Also Dead
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
BEIRUT/JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which has been designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the United States, said early Monday that three of its leaders were killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut, the first such attack within the Lebanese capital’s city limits.
Separately, Hamas, which attacked Israel on October 6, announced that its chief died in an Israeli strike in Lebanon.
It came as Israel stepped up attacks against Iran’s allies in the region.
The PFLP said the three leaders were killed in a strike that targeted Beirut’s Kola district. The strike hit the upper floor of an apartment building in the Kola district of Lebanon’s capital.
The U.S. State Department designated the PFLP as a foreign terrorist organization on 8 October 1997 and later imposed sanctions on it.
Israeli sources identified the killed leaders as Muhammad Abdel Aal, Imad Awda, and Abdel Rahman Abdel Aal.
Hamas also reported the death of its leader in Lebanon, Fateh Sherif Abu al Amin. It said he was killed with family members in an Israeli strike on his home in southern Lebanon. Local media reported that the attack happened in the port city of Tyre.
BIDEN URGES CALM
Yet Washington and observers fear that Israel’s increasing frequency of attacks against Iran-backed groups will plunge the Middle East into a broader armed conflict that could spin out of control and draw in Iran and the United States, Israel’s main ally.
When asked if an all-out war in the Middle East could be avoided, U.S. President Joe Biden said, “It has to be.” He said he would talk to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel earlier attacked Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthi in Yemen. Both Iran-backed groups are on the terrorist watch lists of numerous nations.
The Houthi-run health ministry said at least four people were killed and 29 wounded in airstrikes on Yemen’s port of Hodeidah, which Israel said were a response to Houthi missile attacks, including on Tel Aviv.
In Lebanon, authorities said at least 105 people had been killed by Israeli air strikes on Sunday.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry has said more than 1,000 Lebanese have been killed and 6,000 wounded in the past two weeks, without saying how many were civilians or combatants.
The intensifying Israeli bombardment over two weeks has killed a string of top Hezbollah officials, including its leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
MANY ARE FLEEING
However, the United Nations has expressed concerns about the impact on the civilian population. The Lebanese government said a million people – a fifth of the population – have fled their homes.
Syrians living in southern Lebanon who had fled Israeli bombardment had been sleeping under a bridge in the neighborhood for days, residents of the area said
Israel blames Iran-allied groups for the suffering, suggesting they use civilians as human shields.
The Jewish nation’s government has vowed to keep up the assault and says it wants to make its northern areas secure again for some 60,000 residents who were forced to flee Hezbollah rocket attacks.
Its intentions became apparent as Israeli drones hovered over Beirut for much of Sunday, with the loud blasts of new airstrikes echoing around the Lebanese capital, witnesses said. Displaced families reportedly spent the night on benches at Zaitunay Bay, a string of restaurants and cafes on Beirut’s waterfront.
Many of Israel’s attacks have been carried out in the south of Lebanon, where the Iran-backed Hezbollah has most of its operations or Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Monday’s attack in the Kola district appeared to be the first strike far within Beirut, which had been recovering after years of civil war.