Beirut, Reuters, 20 December 2015 – A number of rockets hit a building in the Damascus district of Jaramana on Sunday, reportedly killing Lebanese Hezbollah militant leader Samir Qantar according to government loyalists.
Israel released Qantar in 2008 as part of a prisoner swap with the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah group and he is believed to have rejoined the group since.
After his release, Qantar – a Druze who declared his support for Hezbollah – kept a low public profile. But it is believed that he had become a commander in the National Defense Forces group, which is part of a grouping of loyalist Syrian militias under the umbrella of the Syrian army and has sent hundreds of its members to fight alongside Bashar al-Assad forces.
Israel has struck Syria several times since the start of the war, mostly destroying weaponry such as missiles that Israeli officials said were destined for Hezbollah, Israel’s long-time foe in neighboring Lebanon.
In January, an Israeli strike in Syria killed six members of Hezbollah, including a commander and the son of the group’s late military leader Imad Moughniyah in the province of Quneitra, near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Syrian government loyalists blamed Israel for the attack on Sunday.