A Fatah member who worked as an operative for Iran in Lebanon was killed on Wednesday in an IDF drone strike in an affluent neighborhood in Sidon.

Three people were killed in the attack, including the target, Khalil al-Maqdah.

The Shin Bet and IDF said it targeted Maqdah for collaborating with Iran to transfer weapons and funds to terror cells in the Shomron. He is the brother of senior Fatah official Mounir Maqdah, who has worked for years for Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps to carry out attacks against Israel.

“The IDF and Shin Bet continue a series of eliminations in Lebanon of terrorists that are directing terrorist activity in Yehudah and Shomron on behalf of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).”

“Earlier today, under the direction of the IDF and the Shin Bet, an Air Force aircraft struck the terrorist Khalil Hussein Khalil Al-Maqdah in the area of Sidon in southern Lebanon,” a joint statement said. “Khalil is the brother of Mounir Al-Maqdah, a resident of Lebanon who operates on behalf of the Hezbollah terrorist organization and the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and is continuing attempts to carry out terror attacks. The two collaborate on behalf of the IRGC and are involved in the direction of terror attacks as well as the smuggling of weapons and funds designated for terrorist activities into Yehudah and Shomron.”

“In March 2024, weapons smuggled into Yehudah and Shomron and distributed to terrorist cells were discovered that were recruited and directed by Khalil and Mounir’s terrorist infrastructure in Lebanon.”

A senior Fatah official claimed that the goal of Israel’s killing of a Fatah official is to spark a regional war.  The “assassination of a Fatah official is further proof that Israel wants to ignite a full-scale war in the region,” Tawfik Tirawi, a member of Fatah’s central committee, told AFP.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)