Syrian group claims responsibility for Hezbollah commander’s death

Israel is not directly involved in Syria – it regards both the Iran-Hezbollah-Assad axis and jihadists on the other side as enemies – but it has made clear it will strike inside Syrian when it deems it to be in its national security interests, especially to prevent sophisticated weaponry from reached Hezbollah. It aired footage of what it said was the building, which appeared to be destroyed.

Mr Kantar’s brother confirmed the death on social media, writing that his family was “was honoured to join families of martyrs”.

Syrian media said that among the dead was Farhan Shaalan, a commander in the Syrian anti-Israel resistance group founded by Mr Kuntar.

He also killed a policeman during the attack, and is alleged to have beaten the four-year-old to death with a rifle butt. A baby girl was accidentally smothered by her mother as she hid in a cupboard.

Kuntar spent almost 30 years in Israeli prisons for his role, at age 16, in a military operation of the Palestine Liberation Front against the Israeli occupation.

According to several websites close to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a total of five missiles struck a residential building in the Al-Homsi district outside Damascus, killing two people and injuring 12 and causing the entire building to collapse.

The rockets were fired from the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre in retaliation against Israeli shelling on the southern towns of Qolaile and al-Mansouri, a source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity, adding that Israeli warplanes are still carrying mock raids over the region. It said in a statement it held the Lebanese government responsible for attacks emanating from its territory and that it would “continue to act against any attempt to harm Israel’s sovereignty and the security of its citizens”. Among the Hezbollah members was Jihad Mughniyeh, the son of Imad Mughniyeh, a top Hezbollah operative assassinated in 2008 in Damascus.

The medium-range interceptor, developed with United States backing, is due to be handed to the Israeli air force “at the end of the first quarter of 2016”, said Yair Ramati, head of the Israel Missile Defence Organisation.

Samir Kuntar was a former guerrilla fighter, who participated in the armed Galilee onslaught during the war between Israel and Lebanon, in which four Israelis were killed. The group aims to end Israel’s occupation of Lebanon. “Qantar is a target for Israel and a very important one”, Gaber said. He was imprisoned in 1979 in Israel and sentenced to three life terms, but was released as part of a prisoner swap with Hezbollah in 2008.

The sources said the military ordered local residents into bomb shelters.

In response, the Israeli military was reported to have shot artillery shells back into Lebanon. It is not unusual for Israel to decline to comment on such operations.

A Defense Ministry statement said on Monday that David’s Sling had passed a fourth set of field trials constituting “the final milestone before declaring delivery of an operational system to the Israeli Air Force in 2016”. His release was highly controversial in Israel, where he is believed to be the perpetrator of one of the most grisly attacks in Israeli history.