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Hezbollah Leader, Long Detained by Israel, Is Killed in Syria Lebanese Militant, Reluctantly Freed by Israel, Is Killed in Syria
(about 2 hours later)
RAMALLAH, West Bank — A Lebanese man who was imprisoned for nearly three decades for his involvement in one of the most notorious attacks in Israel and who later joined the Shiite militia Hezbollah was killed in Syria, his family and the militia said on Sunday. RAMALLAH, West Bank — A Hezbollah commander who was reluctantly released by Israel in 2008 nearly 30 years after taking part in a notorious terrorist attack — was killed in an airstrike in Damascus, Syria, Hezbollah and his family said on Sunday.
The killing of the man, Samir Kuntar, in a government-held neighborhood of Damascus on Saturday night, underscored the complexity of Syria’s civil war and the long arms of its many players. The commander, Samir Kuntar, was freed as part of an exchange that returned the bodies of two soldiers to Israel. He had served nearly three decades for his role in the 1979 killings of a police officer, an Israeli civilian and his daughter in an Israeli coastal town near the Lebanese border. The civilian’s wife accidentally smothered their other daughter while trying to quiet her.
Mr. Kuntar was a secular Lebanese who was born into the Druze community, an offshoot of Islam. He committed a gruesome attack in the name of liberating Palestine, and was imprisoned by Israel. He was freed in a prisoner exchange by Hezbollah and then was assigned an important mission in its war in Syria, where the militant Shiite group is fighting alongside President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, playing an increasingly crucial role in keeping him in power. Mr. Kuntar died when missiles slammed into a residential building in a crowded neighborhood called Jaramana on Saturday night. A man in Jaramana who said he had seen the aftermath of the attack reported that a five-story building had been completely destroyed.
Some reactions to Mr. Kuntar’s death reflected the fall of Hezbollah itself in the estimation of the wider Arab and Muslim world since it veered from its usual mission fighting Israel to help Mr. Assad crush a rebellion dominated by members of Syria’s Sunni Muslim majority. Hezbollah swiftly blamed Israel for the assault, but Israeli officials had no comment.
“Hezbollah commander Samir Kuntar began by killing 4-year-old Israeli girl in 1979 and ended it killing Syrian people,” said Abdurahman Harkoush, a self-identified supporter of the Syrian insurgency, on Twitter. The deal with Hezbollah that led to Mr. Kuntar’s freedom stirred an anguished debate in Israel, especially after he received a rapturous hero’s welcome upon his return to Beirut that included a walk on a red carpet and effusive praise from Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
The reports of Mr. Kuntar’s death also end a painful chapter for the families of Mr. Kuntar’s victims. In the years since, Mr. Kuntar, a Lebanese Druse, took up arms again, this time in Hezbollah’s campaign to rescue the beleaguered government of President Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian civil war.
He was imprisoned in 1979 in Israel after he and three other Lebanese men conducted a cross-border attack in Nahariya, an Israeli coastal town, killing a policeman, and an Israeli man and his daughter, as the man’s wife accidentally smothered their other small child while trying to keep her quiet. A statement on the Facebook page of a Druse militia in Jaramana said on Sunday that the building had been hit with “four long-range missiles.”
“It’s a kind of relief,” said Smadar Haran Kaiser, the only survivor of the attack. His footprints were “full of blood of victims,” she said in a call to reporters. Footage on Syrian television showed a blackened, smashed building, with men furiously digging through the rubble with their hands, with a wrecked vehicle nearby.
Mr. Kuntar’s brother confirmed his death on Sunday without giving details. But he called his brother a martyr, suggesting he died in the context of a battle or a military mission. Also killed in the attack, according to pro-government websites, was Farhan al-Sha’alan, a leader of the Syrian Resistance in the Golan, a group affiliated with Hezbollah, a Shiite militia and political movement.
“With pride we mourn the martyrdom of the leader Samir Kuntar and we are honored to join families of martyrs,” Bassam Kuntar wrote on his Facebook page. It was unclear if others had been killed or wounded in Jaramana, a neighborhood with an ethnically and religiously mixed population that includes many Druse and Christians, but which has become overcrowded with Syrians displaced from other areas.
Hezbollah and its followers revered Mr. Kuntar for surviving nearly 30 years in Israeli prisons. The party’s official TV channel, Al Manar, praised him Sunday morning as “the dean of Arab detainees.” Mr. Kuntar’s brother Bassam confirmed his death on Sunday without providing details. He called his brother a martyr, suggesting that he died in the context of a battle or military mission.
The devastating 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, with its attendant suffering and political turmoil on both sides, started, in a way, because of him. “With pride we mourn the martyrdom of the leader Samir Kuntar and we are honored to join families of martyrs,” Bassam Kuntar wrote on Facebook.
The war began after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid, seeking bargaining chips for prisoner exchanges. But some other reactions to Mr. Kuntar’s death perhaps reflected the decline of Hezbollah itself in the imagination of the wider Arab and Muslim world since it veered from its usual mission of confronting Israel to instead help Mr. Assad crush a rebellion dominated by members of his country’s Sunni Muslim majority.
Two years later, Israel released Mr. Kuntar, along with four other Lebanese prisoners, in exchange for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers killed in the 2006 raid. “Hezbollah commander Samir Kuntar began by killing 4-year-old Israeli girl in 1979 and ended it killing Syrian people,” Abdurahman Harkoush, a self-identified supporter of the Syrian insurgency, said on Twitter.
Hezbollah had recently elevated Mr. Kuntar to an important position, leading the group’s operations in southern Syria along the frontier of the Israeli-held part of the Golan Heights. In Israel, Smadar Haran Kaiser, the mother of the two girls who died in the 1979 attack and who has since married and had two other children, described the death of Mr. Kuntar as “a kind of relief.” His footprints were “full of blood of victims,” she said in a call to reporters.
But its expanded presence on the ground also raised speculation that Hezbollah was trying to secure a new foothold in Syrian territory near the Israeli-held Golan Heights. Hezbollah and its followers revered Mr. Kuntar for enduring nearly 30 years as a prisoner of Israel. The party’s official television channel, Al Manar, praised him Sunday morning as “the dean of Arab detainees.”
Those efforts did not go smoothly, however, and more recently, Mr. Kuntar had a somewhat modified role, setting up a Hezbollah-trained militia in the southern province of Swaida, populated mainly by Syrian Druze. The devastating 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah began, in a way, because of him.
Hezbollah swiftly blamed Israel for Mr. Kuntar’s death, an unusually quick confirmation. Over several years during the chaotic war in Syria, Israeli warplanes have struck targets inside Syria, several times said to be targeting weapons deliveries meant for Hezbollah. That conflict started after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid, planning to hold them hostage for the return of prisoners held by Israel, most notably Mr. Kuntar.
Israel does not confirm its strikes in Syria officially, and the Syrian government has tended to downplay them, saying that it will respond when it deems appropriate. In 2008, Israel released Mr. Kuntar, along with four other Lebanese prisoners, in exchange for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers killed in the 2006 raid.
“There is no doubt that whoever did it this is a capability that is limited to a very small number of powers, states that can get to such capabilities, which begin with the level of very, very exact intelligence,” said Eyal Ben-Reuven, a retired major general, to Israeli radio on Sunday. Hezbollah had recently chosen Mr. Kuntar to lead the group’s operations in southern Syria along the frontier of the Israeli-held part of the Golan Heights.
Its expanded presence there also raised speculation that Hezbollah was trying to secure a new foothold in Syrian territory near the Golan.
Those efforts did not go smoothly, however, and more recently, Mr. Kuntar had a somewhat modified role, setting up a Hezbollah-trained militia in the southern province of Swaida, populated mainly by Syrian Druse.
Over the course of the chaotic Syrian conflict, Israeli warplanes have hit targets inside Syria several times, with most of those strikes said to be against weapons deliveries meant for Hezbollah.
Israel does not confirm military action in Syria, and the Syrian government has tended to downplay them.
“There is no doubt that whoever did it — this is a capability that is limited to a very small number of powers, states that can get to such capabilities, which begin with the level of very, very exact intelligence,” said Eyal Ben-Reuven, a retired major general, on Israeli radio on Sunday.
When asked if Israel had those capabilities, he responded: “Israel is one of the leaders. And that is an understatement.”When asked if Israel had those capabilities, he responded: “Israel is one of the leaders. And that is an understatement.”
While other strikes have been in remote areas, the one in Jaramana was too obvious to delay confirmation, and its target too high-profile. If the reports are accurate, Mr. Kuntar would be the second leader of Hezbollah’s southern front to die in an Israeli strike. Jihad Mughniyeh, the son of Hezbollah’s former operations chief, Imad Mughniyeh, was killed in January in Quneitra, near the Golan Heights. His father was assassinated in Damascus in 2008, a bombing also believed to have been carried out by Israel.
It took place in an extremely crowded urban area, making the risk of civilian casualties high. A person in Jaramana who said he had witnessed the aftermath said that a five-story residential building had been completely destroyed. The strike on Saturday also carried significance for the wider Syrian conflict, which now has numerous international players involved most recently, Russia.
A statement on the Facebook page of a Druze militia in Jaramana said the building was hit with “four long-range missiles.” It pierced the new sense of security on the part of Mr. Assad’s supporters that came after Russia began its direct military intervention in the conflict in late September.
Footage aired on Syrian television strike showed a blackened, partially smashed building, men furiously digging through the rubble with their hands and a smashed vehicle.
It was not clear how many people were killed in Jaramana, a neighborhood with an ethnically and religiously mixed population that includes many Druze and Christians, but which has become overcrowded with Syrians displaced from other areas.
However, also killed in the attack, according to pro-government websites, was Farhan al-Sha’alan, a leader of the Syrian Resistance in the Golan, a group affiliated with Hezbollah.
Mr. Kuntar would be the second leader of Hezbollah’s southern front to die in an Israeli strike. His predecessor Jihad Mughniyeh, the son of Hezbollah’s former operations chief, Imad Mughniyeh, was killed in January in Quneitra, near the Golan Heights border area, by an Israeli strike. The elder Mughniyeh was assassinated in Damascus in 2008, an attack also believed to have been carried out by Israel.
Days after the 2015 attack, Hezbollah carried out what appeared to be a limited response, calibrated to be seen as punishing Israel, but careful to avoid provoking another war.
Over the past several months a growing number of senior figures from both Hezbollah and its patron Iran have been killed in fighting Syria against Syrian insurgents and Islamic State militants, hinting at the intensification of their efforts on the battlefield, where many commanders lead from the front. However, Mr. Kuntar appeared to have been killed in a residential area, not during combat.
The strike also carried significance for the wider war in Syria, which has become a multisided conflict with numerous international players involved — most recently, Russia.
The Israeli strike dented the new sense of security on the part of Mr. Assad’s supporters that came after Russia began its direct military intervention in the conflict in late September, using its air power to shore up Mr. Assad and his Hezbollah allies.
Government supporters in Damascus expressed anger on Sunday conversations and in comments on pro-government websites, complaining that traitors must have revealed Mr. Kuntar’s whereabouts.Government supporters in Damascus expressed anger on Sunday conversations and in comments on pro-government websites, complaining that traitors must have revealed Mr. Kuntar’s whereabouts.
They also asked why Russia’s warplanes and antiaircraft guns, deployed in Syria, did not shoot down the Israeli warplanes. They also asked why Russia’s warplanes and antiaircraft guns, deployed in Syria, failed to shoot down the Israeli jets.
But Saturday’s attack, according to local media, was a standoff strike, with four or five rockets fired by Israeli warplanes that did not cross into Syrian airspace. But Saturday’s attack, according to military analysts, was likely a so-called standoff strike, with four or five rockets fired by Israeli warplanes that did not cross into Syrian airspace.
Deliveries of Russian antiaircraft guns to Syria would have little effect on Israel’s ability to carry out such strikes. On Sunday evening, four rockets were fired toward Israel from the plains near Mansouri, a town in southern Lebanon, the country’s official news agency reported, and bomb shelters were opened for fleeing residents in northern Israel in Shlomi and Nahariya, where Mr. Kuntar’s attack took place in 1979.
All the parties to the conflict have been closely watching to see how Russia’s involvements would affect Israel’s abilities to conduct strikes. While Russia’s allies in Syria are mortal enemies of Israel, Russia itself maintains relations with Israel, which has a large population of immigrants from the former Soviet Union. Also on Sunday evening, Israel struck back with artillery shells that landed near Mansouri, the town from which rockets were reportedly fired into Israel, according to Lebanon’s national news agency and several Lebanese news channels.
The Russian and Israeli governments are said to have set up a hotline to avoid conflicts between their forces in the air.