Friday’s Israeli airstrike killed a top Hamas commander in southern Lebanon, heightening tensions and putting to the test the unstable ceasefire with Hezbollah that concluded the cross-border conflict of last year.
The Israeli military has confirmed that the attack was aimed at Hassan Farhat, one of the top officials of the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Farhat was accused of planning a fatal rocket attack on the Israeli city of Safed in 2023, leaving a number of casualties among the Israeli forces. The military threatened to continue hunting down Hamas operatives “wherever they are.
Farhat was killed along with his son and daughter in the attack, which targeted an apartment in the port city of Sidon, said a Lebanese security official. The military wing of Hamas, the al-Qassam Brigades, confirmed the assassination and honored Farhat for his long-standing contribution to the group’s resistance.
Farhat’s killing is expected to further strain the tenuous truce brokered between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah group following last year’s violent confrontation. Hamas and Hezbollah are known allies, with Hezbollah launching a wave of attacks on Israel in 2023 in support of Hamas. Israel retaliated with a heavy campaign that targeted Hezbollah leadership across Lebanon.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam denounced the strike as a clear violation of the US-brokered ceasefire agreement. His office referred to the attack as a risky provocation that would further destabilize the region.
Diplomatic tensions have been rising in recent weeks, with Israel having conducted airstrikes in Hezbollah-dominated Beirut neighborhoods and rockets launched from southern Lebanon into Israeli airspace. Though Hezbollah denied responsibility for the most recent rocket attacks, the cycle of violence threatens to shred the already fragile peace.
The international community has called on both sides to use restraint with fears of an escalated conflict along the Israel-Lebanon border growing by the day.
