Israel killed a senior commander of the Palestinian movement Fatah in Lebanon on Wednesday, accusing him of orchestrating attacks in the West Bank.
In response, the slain militant’s Fatah party accused Israel of seeking to “ignite a regional war”.
Khalil Maqdah was killed in a missile strike on his car in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon, according to Fatah and a Lebanese security source.
The Israeli military said an air force “aircraft struck the terrorist Khalil Hussein Khalil Al-Maqdah in the area of Sidon in southern Lebanon.”
The military said Maqdah was the brother of Mounir Maqdah, who heads the Lebanese branch of Fatah’s armed wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, and accused them both of “directing terror attacks and smuggling weapons” to the Israeli-occupied West Bank.