A Hezbollah commander who spent three decades in an Israeli prison has been killed in Damascas.
The Lebanese group has alleged Israel is responsible for an airstrike that led to the man's death, which has triggered an exchange of artillery fire across the Israel-Lebanon border.
Samir Kuntar's history with Israel stretches back to his teenage years.
As a 16-year-old with the Palestine Liberation Front, he and three other men conducted a beach raid on the Israeli village of Nahariya.
It led to the death of a father, his two daughters and a policeman.
Samir Kuntar was sentenced to more than five life terms, but was released in 2008 as part of a prisoner swap, the longest-serving Lebanese prisoner in Israel.
Now, it is alleged Israel has killed him in an airstrike in the Syrian capital of Damascus.
Local resident Omar Hinnawi described the scene.
(Translated)"Around 10:15pm, we heard four huge explosions that rocked a huge area. A few minutes later, I discovered that the targeted building was the neighbouring one. I ran away from it. I did not see fire in the place, only some burning cars. The front part of the building was totally destroyed. National defence forces and ambulances ran to the place. Thank God, it's only a material loss, but martyr Samir Kuntar seemed to be targeted."
As it turned out, Mr Kuntar's brother Bassam mourned his death in a statement posted on Facebook.
"With pride, we mourn the martyrdom of leader Samir Kuntar, and we are honoured to join families of martyrs."
Samir Kuntar was a leader of the Hezbollah militant group.
Hezbollah has accused Israel of carrying out the attack in the Jaramana district of Damascus and says several Syrians were also killed.
Israel has refused to comment on whether it was involved, but several senior government officials have spoken publicly, calling Mr Kuntar a terrorist.
Israeli energy minister Yuval Steinitz says he feels no sorrow at Mr Kuntar's death.
"Usually, we don't refer further to such rumours or reports, but, certainly, Samir Kuntar is known to be a very brutal terrorist. He has killed a civilian family, including a baby, many years ago, and he is still involved in terrorism. So if something happened to him, I think that no civilised person can be sorry."
Share
