ISRAEL has today expanded its ruthless drive to decapitate terror groups with more assassinations after the deaths of Hamas’ boss in Lebanon and Hezbollah’s chief.
Three key leaders of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) have now been killed by a suspected precision drone strike on an apartment block in Lebanese capital, Beirut.
EPAIsraeli military vehicles at a gathering site next to the border with Lebanon as seen from an undisclosed location in northern Israel[/caption]
Twitter / @IsraelWarRoomMohamed Abdel, one of PFLP’s senior leaders, was reportedly killed by Israel[/caption]
Twitter / @IsraelWarRoomTerror boss Imad Awda was wiped out in an reported Israeli strike[/caption]
Twitter / @IsraelWarRoomAbdul Rahman was another key leader killed[/caption]
GettyDamage in the targeted apartment after the Israeli army carried out an airstrike on a multi-story building in the Kola district of Beirut, on Monday[/caption]
Laser-like intelligence directed drone operators to targets on the fourth floor of an apartment block in the central suburb of Kola.
A missile decimated the corner apartment plot killing PFLP officials Mohamed Abdel, Imad Awda and Abdul Rahman.
The attack on the PFLP – which has specialised in hijacking, kidnap and terrorist murder plots since the 70’s – suggested Israel was widening its target range.
One other person was killed and nine more reported injured in the explosion.
It comes after Fatah Sherif al-Amin, the leader of Hamas in Lebanon, was taken out by an airstrike with his family in the Al-Bass refugee camp in the southern city of Tyre.
The continuing cull – following Friday’s bunker-bomb assassination of Hezbollah kingpin Hassan Nasrallah, top henchmen and Iranian top brass – highlighted the incredible power of Israel’s intelligence network.
Terror chiefs across the region – in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Gaza – were looking over their shoulders as Israel’s defence chiefs warned there was nowhere to hide.
And even the strife-stoking leaders of Iran – who fund and encourage terror across the Middle East – have been forced to revamp security in the face of the threat.
Overnight hits follow the assassination of at least 20 Hezbollah chiefs and the pager and walkie-talkie bomb blitz which killed 37 and left hundreds blinded and maimed.
EPASmoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on a village in southern Lebanon[/caption]
AFPNasrallah spoke following Israel’s sabotage strikes[/caption]
TwitterHamas chief Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin was killed in Lebanon[/caption]
Hamas leader Fateh Sharif was a key member of Hamas’s leadership abroad and is the biggest scalp claimed in recent hours.
The duplicitous Islamist was high on Israel’s hitlist after it was revealed he had been a top Hamas operator while being paid by the UN.
He was the chairman of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon – but was suspended in March after crowing support for the October 7 attacks.
A pinpoint Israeli airstrike picked out his temporary accommodation in the Al-Bass camp and killed him alongside his wife, son and daughter.
Dozens more Hezbollah sites have been struck across Lebanon overnight as fighter jets attacked the eastern Bekaa region over a two-hour period.
Launchers and buildings storing Hezbollah weapons were hit.
The Israel Defence Forces said: “Fighter jets attacked in various areas in southern Lebanon, military buildings that were used by Hezbollah for terrorist activities against the State of Israel.
“The IDF will continue to attack powerfully, damage and degrade Hezbollah’s military capabilities and infrastructure in Lebanon.”
Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes he is now winning the war and is increasingly likely to order an invasion of southern Lebanon, experts said.
The UK’s former chief of general staff General Lord Richard Dannatt said the strongman now appeared to be ignoring US and British pleas for restraint.
Lord Dannatt said: “A ground invasion is increasingly threatened.
“Whether the Israelis will do that will be down to their judgement, whether they feel they need to do that or whether they’re making enough success.
“It’s very much on the cards.”
AFPIsraeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz (L) previously rejected ceasefire proposals on Thursday as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) vowed to double-down on the Hezbollah blitz[/caption]