Israeli Airstrike Kills Fatah Official in Southern Lebanon

Hezbollah fires over 180 rockets at northern Israel as tensions soar

Israel has carried out an airstrike against southern Lebanon’s city of Sidon Wednesday, targeting a car and killing Khalil Maqdah, a senior official in the Palestinian Fatah Movement.

Israel claimed that Maqdah had been working with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in directing attacks and transferring weapons and funds to militants in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. This was the first direct attack on a Fatah member since the fighting began in October.

Tawfiq Tirawy, another senior Fatah member, was deeply critical of the Israeli attack, saying the decision to assassinate a Fatah official was “further proof that Israel wants to ignite a full-scale war in the region.”

Maqdah was reported to be a member of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. His brother, Mounir Maqdah, is the head of the brigade in southern Lebanon. The assassination adds further to regional tensions, at a time that Hezbollah and Israel are already on the brink of war in Lebanon.

After recent Israeli attacks on Hezbollah targets earlier in the week, the Hezbollah movement has fired rockets and sent drones into northern Israel in retaliation. In the past 48 hours, Hezbollah fired over 180 rockets against the area.

Israel has been attempting to intercept the rockets fired into northern Israel, but some of them hit the area. At least one Israeli was reported wounded, and multiple fires were caused by the rockets hitting open areas.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.