Media from Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah militant group, as well as from the Syrian government, blamed Israel for the attack that killed the militant, Samir Kantar, and several others.
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The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is not ready to comment on the suspects of southern Lebanon rocket fire that hit northern Israel, UNIFIL Deputy Director of Political and Civil Affairs told Sputnik on Monday.
No casualties were reported on either side.
The FSA said in a video that Hezbollah’s assignation of blame to Israel, which masked the true perpetrators of the hit on Kuntar, was aimed at done for the sake of “the morale of its mercenaries”, according to Lebanese website Naharnet, who would not have liked to learn they were vulnerable to the FSA.
In an interview in July 2008, Kantar stated that the operation he was convicted for had “both civilian and military targets”.
In Lebanon, the national news agency NNA said Israel fired nine rounds of artillery at the south.
Syrian Prime Minister Wael Halaqi said targeting Kantar was equivalent to “targeting the axis of resistance”, referring to Syria and its allies.
Israel has refused to acknowledge responsibility for the strike, though the attack has been widely attributed to Jerusalem. From Israel’s standpoint in general, and that of the families of victims of Palestinian terror in particular, this strike constitutes the closing of a circle. Kantar’s brother, Bassam, confirmed his “martyrdom” in a Facebook post on Sunday.
Wearing a Hezbollah military uniform, he waved to applauding crowds under a shower of confetti.
Lebanese media said Hezbollah fighters are threatening to avenge his death, and Hezbollah’s al-Manar television station said the group’s leader, Hasan Nasrallah, planned to deliver a live statement on Monday evening.
“The resistance will end only when the Zionist entity disappears”, he vowed.
“And if he is neutralised by someone, it’s good news for the state of Israel”, said Amidror, but added that he did not know whether his country was behind his death.
Kantar, a Druze Arab, was sentenced by Israel to three life terms for an attack he carried out as a 16-year-old in 1979, as a member of the Palestine Liberation Front.
In Israel, he gained notoriety for the kidnapping and grisly killing of a man named Danny Haran and his 4-year-old daughter, in the coastal town of Nahariya.
It led to the death of a father, his two daughters and a policeman.
Qantar was jailed in Israel in 1979 for a notorious deadly attack, and freed as part of a controversial prisoner swap with Hezbollah in 2008.
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Resolution 1701 ended the 33-day devastating war between Hezbollah and Israel in August, 2006.
