IDF: Hamas-allied terror operative killed in strike on vehicle south of Beirut
Military says Hussein Atwi, a member of al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya, was working with Hamas to launch attacks; in first, Syria said to arrest local Palestinian Islamic Jihad leaders
An Israeli drone strike targeting a vehicle south of the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Tuesday killed a prominent member of a terror group that has taken part alongside Hezbollah in fighting against Israel.
According to the Israel Defense Forces, the strike in the Lebanese coastal town of Haret en-Naameh, just south of Beirut, targeted Hussein Izzat Mohammad Atwi, a member of the al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya (Islamic Group) organization, which is affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood in Lebanon.
The military said Atwi was also affiliated with Hamas in Lebanon, and worked alongside the Palestinian terror group to advance attacks on Israel from Lebanon, in an attempt to harm IDF troops operating on the northern border.
Atwi was behind rocket fire over the years and had also directed terror cells in Lebanon to launch attacks on Israel, including infiltrations, the IDF said.
He also worked to advance attacks against Israeli targets abroad, the military added.
Al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya, like Hamas, is a Sunni faction that forms part of the broader Muslim Brotherhood political network. The armed wing of the group, the al-Fajr Forces, repeatedly targeted Israel from Lebanon amid the war, often working in conjunction with the Shiite Hezbollah terror group.
The group confirmed the death of Atwi in a statement.
A November 2024 ceasefire largely ended more than a year of fighting, including some two months of open war, between Hezbollah and Israel.
The fighting started when the Iran-backed terror group opened fire on October 8, 2023, shooting rockets and drones at the Jewish state in support of Hamas, which had attacked Israel from the Gaza Strip in a shock invasion the previous day.
The ceasefire allows Israel to strike immediate threats, however, and near-daily strikes against Hezbollah operatives and their allies have continued.
بالصور: غارة إسرائيلية استهدفت سيارة في #بعورتا قرب #الدامور pic.twitter.com/6FtI7lHdp4
— Voice of Lebanon 100.3 100.5 (@sawtlebnan) April 22, 2025
Syria said to arrest PIJ leaders
Separately, Palestinian media reported Tuesday that the new Syrian regime has arrested Khaled Khaled, in charge of the Syrian arena in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror organization, and Abu Ali Yasser, responsible for the organization’s executive committee in Syria.
There was no official confirmation from Syrian authorities on the matter.
It would mark the first such arrests by the new Syrian regime.
Until the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in December, senior PIJ officials including leader Ziyad al-Nakhalah were based in Syria.
Shortly before the regime’s collapse in the wake of Islamist-led offensive, al-Nakhalah fled Syria, but according to Arab media reports, some operatives remain active in in the country.
PIJ operatives from Gaza took part in the Hamas-led onslaught in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which started the ongoing war in the Strip.
The Times of Israel Community.