Israel army strikes Jnah and Kuwait embassy roundabout in south Beirut
The Israeli military said it launched a fresh strike on south Beirut on Tuesday.
"The IDF (Israeli military) conducted a precise strike in Beirut," the statement said, without offering details, while local media outlets reported simultaneous strikes on an apartment in a building in Jnah near al-Zahraa Hospital, and on another region in Beirut's southern suburbs.
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said Israeli strikes hit two areas of south Beirut. NNA reported a "violent enemy strike that targeted the area between Jnah and Ouzai in the vicinity of al-Zahraa Hospital", then another minutes later on a roundabout near the Kuwaiti embassy.
One of the airstrikes struck a residential building, causing damage and blowing out windows in the area. It appeared to hit an apartment in the building on the southern highway leading up to Beirut international airport, and about 100 meters from the Iranian Embassy.
The Israeli military said Mohammed Jaafar Qassir was killed in the strike Tuesday afternoon. It said Qassir was in charge of Hezbollah’s Unit 4400 that ships weapons from Iran to Lebanon and he supervised Hezbollah’s development of precision-guided missiles.
The Israeli military said Qassir also sent hundreds of millions of dollars to Hezbollah in recent years.
There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah on the Israeli claim.
Qassir’s brother Ahmad carried out a suicide attack in the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre in 1982 that killed dozens of Israeli soldiers. His death is marked annually as “Martyr's Day.”
Source: Agence France Presse, Naharnet, Associated Press
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