Hamas brigade commander Khan Younis killed in Gaza airstrike, Israel claims – The Irish Times

The Israeli military said Rafa Salama, commander of Hamas’ Khan Younis Brigade in the Gaza Strip, was killed on Saturday in an airstrike that also targeted the head of the group’s armed wing, Mohammed Deif.

The military said Salama was one of Deif’s closest confidants and was involved in planning the October 7 Hamas attack. His death “significantly compromises Hamas’ military capabilities,” the military said.

Hamas has not confirmed Salama’s fate.

( Gaza: At least 90 dead and 300 injured in Israeli air strike on designated humanitarian zoneOpens in new window. )

Elsewhere, one Syrian soldier was killed and three others injured in Israeli air strikes on military bases and a residential building in Damascus early Sunday, the Syrian army said.

An army statement said the attacks were launched from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Israel has been carrying out attacks for years on targets in Syria that it believes are linked to Iran, where Tehran’s influence has grown since the country supported President Bashar al-Assad in the civil war that began in 2011.

After the start of the Gaza war last October, Israeli attacks on Syria increased.

Sunday’s attacks targeted “a number of our military sites in the southern region and one of the residential buildings in the Kafar Souseh neighborhood in the city of Damascus,” the Syrian army said in a statement.

“Our air defense systems were able to counter the enemy missiles despite their density and shoot down a significant number of them.”

The Israeli army said its attacks were a response to the launch of two drones from Syria towards the north of Eilat on Saturday, which were intercepted.

“Overnight, the Israeli army attacked a Syrian military command center and infrastructure facilities. Terrorist targets belonging to the Syrian military’s air defense unit were also attacked,” it said. – Reuters