An Israeli drone strike on Tuesday morning targeted a vehicle in the Baawarta area near Damour, resulting in the death of Hussein Izzat Atwi, a senior figure in the Islamist group Jamaa Islamiya.
The vehicle, which was struck near a Lebanese army barracks, caught fire upon impact.
Atwi, born in 1968 and originally from Hebbariyeh in the Hasbaya-Marjayoun region, was a professor at the Lebanese University. He was also identified as a member of Jamaa Islamiya and a prominent leader within its armed wing, Quwat al-Fajr (Forces of Dawn).
This was not the first time he had been targeted — Atwi survived a previous Israeli assassination attempt in January 2024 near the southern village of Kawkaba.
In a separate development overnight, several Israeli armored vehicles briefly crossed into the town of Abbassiyeh, also located in the Hasbaya area.
The vehicles reportedly reached the village mosque before withdrawing toward Ghajar, a disputed border village currently under Israeli control.
This incursion came amid escalating tensions, marked by a surge in Israeli drone activity over the southern regions of Nabatieh and Tyre.
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