Lebanese militant leader Samir Qantar has been killed after a number of rockets hit a building in the Damascus district of Jaramana, according to Syrian government loyalists on social media.
Qantar’s brother Bassam Kantar paid tribute to him on his Facebook page without giving details about his death. Kantar said his brother was a martyr.“With pride we mourn the martyrdom of the leader Samir Qantar and we are honored to join families of martyrs,” Bassam Kantar wrote.
The militant Lebanese Shia group Hezbollah also confirmed his death, saying he was killed with eight others. Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV said two Israeli warplanes that violated Syrian airspace fired four long-range missiles at the residential building in Jaramana on Saturday night. It aired footage of what it said was the building, which appeared to be completely destroyed.
Syria’s state media, which did not mention Qantar, blamed “terrorist groups” for the attack and said it caused several casualties.
But government loyalists said the explosions were caused by an Israeli strike that was believed to have killed Qantar, who is reviled in Israel for a 1979 attack that killed four people.
An Israeli cabinet minister welcomed news of Qantar’s death but stopped short of confirming allegations that Israel was responsible.
“It is good that people like Samir Qantar will not be part of our world,” Construction and Housing Minister Yoav Gallant told Israel Radio.
Asked if Israel carried out the strike near Damascus, he said: “I am not confirming or denying anything to do with this matter.” Other Israeli officials, including military spokesmen, declined to comment.
Israel released Qantar, a Druze, in 2008 as part of a prisoner swap with Hezbollah and he is believed to have joined the group since.
He was welcomed as a hero in Beirut and he married a Lebanese Shia woman from a Hezbollah family. He became known in Lebanon “The Dean of Lebanese Prisoners” for being the longest-held prisoner in Israel.
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