Hezbollah sent hundreds of fighters to Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad’s cause against rebels and Kuntar was said to have been “martyred” in the residential district of Jaramana.
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David’s Sling is meant to counter medium-range missiles possessed by enemies throughout the region, most notably the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah. The insurgent spokesperson warned that Hezbollah is being watched and that it will not survive future operations.
Kantar was killed in an airstrike on Sunday near the Syria capital, Damascus.
According to Reuters, an Israeli air strike in Damascus on the evening of December 19 killed Kuntar.
Witnesses said that three missiles were launched at the residential building and led to its total collapse, killing six individuals and wounding another twelve. It remains unclear whether the attacks were premeditated following Kuntar’s demise.
Hezbollah played a key role in Kantar’s release after he had spent 30 years in Israeli jails, becoming known as the longest-serving Arab prisoner. He said the system would be delivered to the air force next year. Kuntar’s brother, Bassam, confirmed his “martyrdom” in a Facebook post on Sunday.
Although Al-Manar said Israeli warplanes violated Syrian airspace, the Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen TV station, which is close to Hezbollah and the Syrian government, said two Israeli warplanes fired the four missiles while flying over northern Israel.
While no group has claimed responsibility for the rockets fired from Lebanon, they came shortly after a prominent Hezbollah commander, Samir Kuntar, was killed by an airstrike on Saturday night outside Syrian capital Damascus – an airstrike for which the Lebanese group blamed Israel.
The Lebanese daily As-Safir, a Hezbollah- linked newspaper, reported that warheads from smart bombs featuring Israeli markings were found among the rubble of the building where Kuntar and eight others were killed. But Syrian state media said he was involved in a major offensive earlier this year in Quneitra, near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Israeli Cabinet minister Yuval Steinitz said he was not sorry about Kuntar’s death but could not comment on the accusations that Israel was behind the killing. “But again I learned it from the reports in the global media and I can make no concrete reference to it”, he said.
During the funeral for Samir Kuntar Monday, Hezbollah leaders vowed to take revenge on Israel for his assignation, the Israeli news site Ynet News reported. While many in Israel were outraged at his release, in Lebanon he received a hero’s welcome.
Thousands attended the funeral, including not only many senior Hezbollah militants, but also Lebanese politicians and leaders of Palestinian factions in the country.
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In a Monday statement, 212 members of Iran’s Parliament (Majlis) expressed their condolences to Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah over the death of Qantar.
