Israel Neutralizes Jihadist Palestinian Leader In Damascus - Militant Group

Israel Neutralizes Jihadist Palestinian Leader in Damascus - Militant Group

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) group announced Israel's assassination of one of the organization's leaders in the Syrian capital of Damascus on Tuesday

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th November, 2019) The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) group announced Israel's assassination of one of the organization's leaders in the Syrian capital of Damascus on Tuesday.

Syrian national agency SANA reported that two people were killed and six were injured in an "enemy strike" near the Lebanese embassy in Damascus. The video shared by the news agency shows rescue workers at extensively damaged three-story buildings.�The reports did not show whether or not it was the same event mentioned by the Palestinian group.

"The Israeli Air Force launched a rocket attack on the home of a politburo member of the Islamic Jihad Akram al-Ajuri in Damascus," the group said in a statement.

Earlier in the day, the house of one of the leaders of the al-Quds brigade, which is the military wing of the PIJ, in Gaza, Baha' Abu al-Ata, was also attacked � he and his wife were killed, while his sons were injured. The Islamic Jihad movement issued a statement in which it mourned the slain commander, saying that the response to his assassination will be "without boundaries."

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authorities based in Ramallah condemned the Israel's attack, describing it as a "hideous crime" without mentioning al-Ata, but instead simply referring to a "man and his wife."

The Palestinian Authorities, led by President Mahmoud Abbas, are opposed to the leadership in Gaza following the Fatah-Hamas conflict in 2007, which saw a split in control between the West Bank and Gaza, with the latter ruled over by Hamas.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement is often closely aligned with Hamas, but the two organizations act independently of one another. The PIJ is believed to be funded by Iran and Syria and has close ties to the Lebanese armed organization, Hezbollah. The armed al-Quds group of the organization has claimed responsibility for numerous attacks within Israel since its foundation in 1981.