BEIRUT: A leader from Hamas-aligned Lebanese group Jamaa Islamiya was among two people killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon on Tuesday, the group and Israel’s military said.

Israel has continued to carry out regular strikes on Lebanon despite a November truce with Hezbollah that sought to halt more than a year of hostilities between the foes including two months of all-out war.

Lebanon’s civil defence said “an Israeli drone targeted a car” near the coastal town of Damour, about 20 kilometres south of Beirut, and rescuers recovered a man’s body. An eyewitness saw the charred wreckage of a car at the scene. The Lebanese army had cordoned off the area and forensic teams were conducting an inspection.

Lebanese Islamist group Jamaa Islamiya in a statement announced the death of Hussein Atwi, calling him “an academic leader and university professor” and saying an Israeli drone strike “targeted his car as he was travelling to his workplace in Beirut”. The Israeli army said the air force had “eliminated” Atwi, calling him “a significant terrorist in the Jamaa Islamiya terrorist organisation”.

Published in Dawn, April 23rd, 2025