Israel army kills Lebanese Jamaa Islamiya group senior leader

People and army soldiers check the wreckage of a car in which a leader from an Islamist group close to the Palestinian Hamas movement was reportedly killed by an Israeli strike in the village of Ghazze in the Bekaa region of eastern Lebanon on July 18, 2024 [HASSAN JARRAH/AFP via Getty Images]

A senior leader of the Lebanese Jamaa Islamiya group was killed in an Israeli drone attack in eastern Lebanon, local media reported today.

The Lebanese official news agency NNA said Mahmoud Mohammad Jbara, a senior leader in the Lebanese Islamist Sunni group, was killed in an Israeli drone strike on his car in the Western Bekaa area in eastern Lebanon.

The development comes after Hezbollah’s Secretary-General, Hassan Nasrallah, threatened on Wednesday to strike new settlements in Israel if the Israeli army continues to target civilians in Lebanon.

Fears have grown about a full-fledged war between Israel and the Lebanese resistance and political groups amid an exchange of cross-border attacks.

The escalation comes against the backdrop of a deadly Israeli onslaught against Gaza, which has killed more than 38,800 Palestinians in the enclave since October.

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