Beirut [Lebanon] / Tel Aviv [Israel], February 18: The Israeli military has killed the head of Hamas' operations department in Lebanon, it said on its Telegram channel on Monday.
The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, confirmed Muhammad Shaheen's death in a statement, saying he had been killed in an Israeli airstrike on the southern Lebanese port city of Sidon.
The Qassam Brigades said that he had a "pioneering role and special fingerprints" in the resistance against Israel, including during the war on Gaza.
The Palestinian group said it will continue its operations "until the dream of our people for liberation and return is achieved".
Earlier, the state-run Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) reported one killed in an Israeli drone strike on a car in Sidon.
A Lebanese security source had speculated that the targeted vehicle "might have been for a military official in Hamas." NNA said the vehicle was totally burnt with the man inside it.
It added that "a body was retrieved from the vehicle which was targeted by the Israeli drone, after firefighters extinguished the fire."
The incident came as Lebanese President Joseph Aoun urged sponsors of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah to help in pressuring Israel to withdraw its troops from southern Lebanon by a Tuesday deadline.
According to unconfirmed media reports, Israel is demanding an extension of the withdrawal deadline until February 28.
Lebanon's Hezbollah-allied parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri and Aoun reject that. A ceasefire took effect in late November.
On January 26, it was extended to February 18. By that date both Israeli and Hezbollah forces are to have withdrawn from southern Lebanon.
Source: Qatar Tribune
