BEIRUT (AP) — An Israeli airstrike on eastern Lebanon killed a number of people, including a senior member of a Palestinian group and his bodyguard as they were on their way to Syria, news reports and his group said Friday.
The airstrike near the Lebanese border crossing of Masnaa on Thursday afternoon killed Mohammed Wishah, a member of the central committee of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, or PFLP, the group said in a statement.
The Israeli army confirmed the airstrike, saying that Wishah was responsible for coordinating with other militant groups in the region and strengthening ties between the PFLP and Iran's so-called axis of resistance.
The military said that Wishah was advancing attacks against Israel and took his job as the PFLP's top security official in Syria after his predecessor was killed in an airstrike in Beirut in September.
In a post on social media, senior PFLP official Marwan Abdel-Al mourned the death of Wishah and his bodyguard, Mufid Hussein.
“We have lost two of the most loyal comrades who gave their precious souls to freedom,” Abdel-Al wrote.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency, or NNA, said that the airstrike on east Lebanon killed six people and wounded 10 others, without identifying the victims.
Since the Israel-Hamas war began in October 2023, Israel has targeted Palestinian officials in Lebanon, including PFLP members. Three FPLP members were killed in an airstrike on a Beirut apartment in September.
A FPLP official said that Wishah had been in Lebanon to meet with other officials with the group and was on his way back to Syria when the airstrike happened. The official, who wasn't authorized to speak with the media, spoke on condition of anonymity.
The PFLP statement said Wishah was born in the Gaza Strip in 1954 and spent five years in Israeli jails shortly after he joined the Palestinian group in 1973.
For many years, the leftist and secular PFLP has been the No. 2 member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah group.
On Friday morning, an Israeli drone strike hit a car in a coastal highway in south Lebanon, killing citizen journalist Mohammed Shehadeh, NNA reported. Hezbollah later said that Shehadeh was one of its members.
Since the 14-month war between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group ended, Israel has carried out scores of airstrikes on Lebanon, mainly targeting Hezbollah members.
Bassem Mroue, The Associated Press
