Israeli fighter jets on Thursday struck the headquarters of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorist group in the Syrian capital, Damascus, eliminating two of its top operatives, Israeli media reported Saturday.
The two senior PIJ terror operatives killed in the airstrike were identified as the group’s ‘foreign relations’ chief, Rasmi Abu Issa, and a member of its Political Bureau, Abd Alaziz al-Minawi.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed hitting significant PIJ terror targets in Syria. “The IDF on Thursday confirmed the strikes on several PIJ buildings and command centers, calling them a “significant blow” to the Gaza Strip-based Palestinian terror group and its operatives,” The Times of Israel reported.
The terrorist group on Saturday admitted the elimination of its two senior operatives, the French news agency AFP reported.
“Two senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) figures were killed in an Israeli strike on Syria on Thursday, a source from the Hamas-allied militant group told AFP Saturday,” France24 TV reported. “Abdel Aziz Minawi, a member of PIJ’s political bureau, and the group’s foreign relations chief Rasmi Abu Issa were killed in the strike on Qudsaya, in the Damascus area this week, said the source.”
The Iran-backed Islamic Jihad (PIJ) planned and executed the October 7 massacre alongside Hamas. Following October 7, 2023, the jihadist group has been carrying out terrorist operations against the IDF troops in Gaza and firing rockets at southern Israeli towns and cities.
The Israeli Air Force (IAF) was conducting further raids on PIJ bases in Syria. “Israel continued to target PIJ headquarters in Damascus on Friday,” the Jerusalem Post reported Saturday. “IAF fighter jets struck commander centers and terrorist infrastructure belonging to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group in Syria’s Damascus, the military confirmed on Thursday afternoon.”
After Israel began hitting terrorist targets in Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon, Iran-backed terror groups are relocating their leadership and infrastructure to neighboring Syria. Earlier this week, Israeli airstrikes destroyed more Iranian-linked weapons depots and terrorist supply routes in Syria.
The PIJ suffered another blow as the Israeli military announced the elimination of its northern Gaza-based rocket commander and the members of his terrorist unit. “In the Gaza Strip, with the intelligence direction of the ISA [Israeli Security Agency], the IAF [Israeli Air Force] struck and eliminated the terrorist Alkaman Abed Elslam Khalil Anbar, responsible for fire support in the Islamic Jihad’s Gaza City Brigade,” the military announced.
“Anbar was responsible for the Islamic Jihad’s rocket fire array from the Gaza Strip toward Israeli territory and was a significant figure in the organization’s weapons manufacturing processes,” the IDF added. “He was eliminated alongside other Islamic Jihad terrorists who fired rockets toward the State of Israel and IDF troops.”
The IDF continued operations against terrorists in the Hamas strongholds of Jabaliya and Rafah. “Over the past day, the troops eliminated terrorists in close-quarters encounters and in directed aerial strikes and located large quantities of weaponry, including explosive devices, machine guns, and additional terrorist equipment,” the military disclosed Saturday.
The Israeli Air Force (IAF) “struck a military compound containing several launchers from which numerous rockets were fired toward the Western Galilee area over the past week,” the Israeli military said Saturday.
“IDF troops continue their limited, localized, and targeted operational activity in southern Lebanon. Over the past day, the troops located and dismantled weapons storage facilities, tunnel shafts, and terrorist infrastructure sites and eliminated a number of terrorists during encounters and aerial strikes,” the military added.
“A short while ago, the IAF conducted a series of intelligence-based strikes on Hezbollah terror targets in the Dahieh area, a key Hezbollah terrorist stronghold in Beirut, where Hezbollah has systematically embedded its terrorist infrastructure amidst the Lebanese civilian population, cynically exploiting them as human shields,” the IDF announced Saturday morning. “Among the targets struck were a weapons storage facility, a command center, and Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure.”
The Israeli Air Force was carrying out a sustained air campaign against terrorist groups in Gaza and Lebanon. “Over the past day, the IAF struck over 160 terror targets belonging to Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip,” the military said Saturday.
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