ALBAWABA - According to witnesses, four individuals were killed in an Israeli strike on an apartment in Beirut's Kola area on Sunday, the first such attack in downtown Beirut in over a year of fighting.
There have been contradictory claims as to who the intended targets were, with some news agencies reporting they were executives of The Islamic Party or Islamic Group, also known as Jamaa Islamiya, and others alleging they were members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Later on, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, an armed organization active in Lebanon and Gaza, said the trio were among its members.
A separate strike in the southern el-Buss refugee camp killed Fateh Sharif, the Hamas leader in Lebanon, according to a statement released on Monday. His family members were also reportedly slain.
According to one source mentioned by AFP, the Beirut strike was carried out using a drone and occurred near the Kola intersection, a famous gathering place for taxis and buses to pick up passengers.
Israel has limited its assaults on Lebanon's capital city to its southern suburbs. The bombing raised uncertainty on which districts of Beirut were safe from Israel's increasing aerial onslaught. Israeli drones lingered above Beirut for much of Sunday, while the sounds of additional airstrikes echoed around the city.
Since Sept. 23, Israeli attacks in Lebanon have killed at least 816 people, including women and children, and injured 2,507 others, according to an Anadolu count based on numbers provided by the Lebanese Health Ministry.
The Israeli army has launched huge airstrikes against what it claims are Hezbollah sites, escalating a year of cross-border fighting between the two sides that began in October.
According to estimates published by Anadolu, at least 1,640 people have been killed and 8,408 wounded.
