Hezbollah fighters killed in Israeli raid

Israel has launched a helicopter attack on targets in the Syrian sector of the Golan Heights, killing six Hezbollah fighters.

A member of the Kataib Hezbollah (Hezbollah Brigades)

A suicide bomber has killed at least three Hezbollah fighters at a checkpoint in eastern Lebanon. (File: AAP)

Six Hezbollah fighters have been killed in an Israeli air strike on the Syrian side of the Golan, including the son of assassinated senior commander Imad Mughniyeh.

The deaths were announced after an Israeli security source said that an Israeli helicopter conducted a strike against "terrorists" near Quneitra, on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights.

"A group of Hezbollah mujahedeen were martyred in a Zionist rocket attack in Quneitra, and their names will be revealed later," said Hezbollah's Al-Manar television.

They were killed during a field reconnaissance mission in the Mazraat Amal village of Quneitra province, it said.

A source close to Hezbollah said the dead included Mohammed Issa, a senior commander responsible for Hezbollah operations in Syria and Iraq.

Also killed was Jihad Mughniyeh, the son of Imad Mughniyeh, a top Hezbollah operative killed in a 2008 car bombing in Syria which the group has blamed on Israel, said the source.

Imad Mughniyeh was wanted for the 1985 hijacking of a TWA airliner in which a US Navy diver was killed and the 1992 bombing of Israel's embassy in Argentina that cost 29 lives.

The Israeli source did not identify the targets but alleged they were preparing for an attack on Israel, without providing more details.

Syrian state television confirmed the Israeli air strike and said six people were killed in the raid but made no mention of Hezbollah.

The Shi'ite movement is an arch-enemy of Israel, and has sent thousands of fighters across the border to aid Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime as it battles Sunni-led rebels.

The attack comes days after Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah threatened to retaliate against Israel for repeated strikes on Syria.

In February 2014, two Israeli air raids hit a Hezbollah target on the Lebanon-Syria border, according to Lebanese security sources.

Hezbollah fought a bloody war with Israel in the summer of 2006 that killed some 1200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and 160 Israelis, most of them soldiers.

Syria and Israel are officially in a state of war, and Israel has occupied the Golan since 1967. The occupation is not recognised by the international community.


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Source: AAP



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