IDF strike kills Hamas-linked senior operative near Lebanon’s border with Syria
Military says Sharhabil Sayed was al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya member while Hamas claims him as a commander; separate strike indicates Hezbollah has advanced Iranian anti-aircraft missiles
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
The Israeli military on Friday confirmed carrying out an airstrike in eastern Lebanon’s Majdal Anjar, close to the border with Syria, killing a top al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya operative who worked alongside Hamas.
The IDF said the drone strike targeted and killed Sharhabil Sayed.
Sayed, according to the IDF, was a senior member of al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya who “led and advanced numerous terror attacks from Lebanese territory against Israel in [Lebanon’s] eastern region in the recent period… in cooperation with the Lebanon branch of the Hamas terrorist organization.”
Hamas in an official statement claimed Sayed as a commander in the terror group.
The IDF said the strike was aimed at “causing a blow to the organization’s abilities to advance and carry out terror operations that it had planned in the recent period and in the near future against the State of Israel on the northern border.”
Two security sources told Reuters that the strike also killed another Palestinian Hamas member.
Meanwhile, an earlier Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon appeared to reveal that Hezbollah is in possession of advanced Iranian anti-aircraft missiles.
The IDF said the strike targeted Hezbollah compounds in Najjarieh, south of Sidon, used by the terror group’s air defense unit. According to the military, the sites had “posed a threat to Israeli aircraft.”
Footage circulating on social media seemed to showed the remains of an Iranian Sayyad-2 surface-to-air missile following one of the IDF strikes.
The missile was identified by Tal Inbar, an expert on missiles and drones, in a post on X.
It was apparently the first public evidence suggesting that Hezbollah has such missiles.
Earlier today the IDF announced the targeting of an Hezbollah Air Defense Unit – footage circulating social media appears to show the remains of an Iranian Sayyad-2 surface to air, air defense missile. pic.twitter.com/j92UAojscL
— Aurora Intel (@AuroraIntel) May 17, 2024
Also Friday evening, the IDF said Israeli fighter jets struck a Hezbollah rocket launcher in southern Lebanon’s Deir Seryan, which the military said was used to attack the north earlier in the day as part of one of the largest barrages carried out by the Lebanese terror group amid the war.
Another building and additional infrastructure belonging to the terror group in Kfarhamam and Odaisseh were also struck, the IDF added.
The afternoon barrage by Hezbollah included some 75 rockets, with one of the impacts lightly wounding two people in the Upper Galilee who were taken to a hospital for treatment.
The rocket fire followed Israeli strikes on Hezbollah targets, which came after several drones were launched from Lebanon at the Western Galilee early Friday morning.
Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war.
So far, the skirmishes on the border have resulted in 10 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 14 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
Hezbollah has named 300 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing fighting, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. Mahdi’s death on Friday would raise the number to 301.
Another 61 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and at least 60 civilians, three of whom were journalists, have also been killed in Lebanon.
