Israeli airstrike kills Palestinian official and bodyguard in east Lebanon
BEIRUT — An Israeli airstrike on eastern Lebanon killed a number of people, including a senior member of a Palestinian group and his bodyguard as they were on their way to Syria, news reports and his group said Friday.
The Thursday afternoon airstrike near the Lebanese border crossing of Masnaa killed Mohammed Wishah, a member of the central committee of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the group said in a statement.
There was no immediate comment from Israel.
Senior PFLP official Marwan Abdel-Al mourned in a post on social media the death of Wishah and his bodyguard, Mufid Hussein. 'We have lost two of the most loyal comrades who gave their precious souls to freedom,' Abdel-Al wrote.
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said the airstrike on east Lebanon killed six people and wounded 10, without identifying the victims.
Since the Israel-Hamas war began in October 2023, Israel has targeted Palestinian officials in Lebanon, including PFLP members. Three FPLP members were killed in an airstrike on a Beirut apartment last September.
A FPLP official said Wishah had been in Lebanon to meet with other officials with the group and was on his way back to Syria when the airstrike happened. The official spoke on condition of anonymity due to not being authorized to speak to the media.
The PFLP statement said Wishah was born in the Gaza Strip in 1954 and spent five years in Israeli jails shortly after he joined the Palestinian group in 1973.
For many years, the leftist and secular PFLP has been the second-largest member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah group.
On Friday morning, an Israeli drone strike hit a car in a coastal highway in south Lebanon killing citizen journalist Mohammed Shehadeh, NNA said. Hezbollah later said Shehadeh was one of its members.
Since the 14-month Israel- Hezbollah war ended with Israel has carried out scores of airstrikes on Lebanon mainly targeting Hezbollah members.
Bassem Mroue, The Associated Press
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