IDF continues Beirut strikes; kills Hamas leader in Lebanon and 3 senior PFLP operatives

JERUSALEM – Having given its emphatic response to the Franco-American idea, floated on Thursday, of a 21-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, by eliminating Hassan Nasrallah with more than 80 tons of high explosive on Friday, the IDF is attempting to press on with dismantling more terrorist infrastructure in Lebanon.

Over the weekend and continuing Monday, the Israel Air Force has pounded certain suburbs of Beirut, such as Dahiyeh, which are known to be nests of Hezbollah loyalists, as it maintains the enormous pressure it has exerted on the Iranian proxy – and also the Iranian regime itself – over the last two weeks or so.

In two separate strikes Monday, Israel’s military eliminated Hamas’ leader in Lebanon – Fateh Sherif Abu el-Ami – along with his wife, son, and daughter in a strike on a Palestinian refugee camp in the southern city of Tyre. Meanwhile, earlier in the day, Hezbollah’s Telegram channel posted about the death of three People’s Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) commanders in Beirut’s Kola district.

Sherif, in addition to his role with Hamas, was also employed by the U.N.’s Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and was chairman of its teacher’s union. Apparently UNRWA in Lebanon provides educational services to nearly 40,000 students in Palestinian refugee camps. It should be remembered Palestinians are considered stateless in Lebanon, and treated as second-class citizens.

It provides yet more evidence of the symbiotic, even parasitic, relationship between UNRWA, the only refugee agency devoted to keeping any group of people in that perpetual status, and Hamas.

Hamas confirms its chief terrorist in Lebanon, Fathi Sharif Abu Al-Amin, was killed in an Israeli precision strike.

He was also the principal of an UNRWA school and President of the UNRWA Teachers Union in Lebanon. pic.twitter.com/MS1AkC8ePO

— Imtiaz Mahmood (@ImtiazMadmood) September 30, 2024

Sherif was quick to praise the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre of mostly Jewish Israelis in southern Israel, an attack – followed by Hezbollah’s support of it – setting into motion events which might change the face of the entire Middle East. A statement from the terrorist group identified him as a “successful teacher and excellent [school] principal.”

In March, UNRWA told Reuters that Sherif had been suspended for three months over allegations of involvement in activities “that are in violation of the Agency’s regulatory framework governing staff conduct.”

Meanwhile, in a Sunni-majority suburb of Beirut, Kola, a strike on an apartment building killed three members of The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the group said, marking the first time Israel carried out an attack inside the heart of the capital since the outbreak of the war in Gaza last year. However, in Judea and Samaria, Israel’s military has been working for months to undermine and neutralize the threat posed by heavily armed so-called Palestinian resistance groups – including the PFLP – which have received weapons and training either directly or indirectly from Iran.

PFLP said its military security chief Mohammad Abdel-Aal, military commander Imad Odeh, and another member, Abdelrahman Abdel-Aal, were killed in the strike. Israel remained tight-lipped, saying only its forces had attacked a number of targets in southern Lebanon overnight, including in the Beqaa Valley, and had concentrated on rocket launchers and arms depots.

The Israel Defense Force has just announced the Completion of an Extensive Series of Widespread Strikes against Hezbollah Command Centers across Lebanon; with over 120 Sites across both Southern Lebanon and the Beqaa Valley of Eastern Lebanon being Targeted and Destroyed by… pic.twitter.com/oawqfaI5ly

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) September 29, 2024

While the IDF has largely gone on the offensive, taking the fight to Hezbollah and its allies in Beirut, the threats to Israel and its domestic assets remain. Early Monday morning, an Israel Navy “Sa’ar 4.5”-class missile ship successfully intercepted an unmanned aerial target that was approaching Israel from the area of the Red Sea outside of Israeli territory.

Israel’s defense establishment has not identified what the intended target was, although speculation on X and other platforms was rife it may have been heading to the Karish gas field.