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Lebanon: Syrian Minors Arrested in Assassination Case of Key ‘Qassam’ Figure

Firefighters douse a burning car after it was hit in a reported Israeli drone attack in Lebanon's southern area of Naqoura near the border with Israel on March 13, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. (Photo by AFP)
Firefighters douse a burning car after it was hit in a reported Israeli drone attack in Lebanon's southern area of Naqoura near the border with Israel on March 13, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. (Photo by AFP)
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Lebanon: Syrian Minors Arrested in Assassination Case of Key ‘Qassam’ Figure

Firefighters douse a burning car after it was hit in a reported Israeli drone attack in Lebanon's southern area of Naqoura near the border with Israel on March 13, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. (Photo by AFP)
Firefighters douse a burning car after it was hit in a reported Israeli drone attack in Lebanon's southern area of Naqoura near the border with Israel on March 13, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. (Photo by AFP)

The Palestinian factions and Islamic forces in the Tyre region in Lebanon announced on Friday the arrest of a group of Israeli agents it said were involved in the assassination of a member of the Qassam Brigades earlier this month, and handing them over to the relevant Lebanese authorities.
It is a first for the factions to make such an announcement since the outbreak of clashes between the Hezbollah group and Israel in southern Lebanon, following the Al-Aqsa Flood operation in Gaza and Israel’s focus on assassinating members and officials of Hamas and Hezbollah.
In its statement, the factions said: "After the cowardly assassination of Qassam Brigades member Hadi Mustafa (Abu Shadi), carried out by the Zionist enemy on Wednesday, March 13, 2024, the leadership of the factions and Islamic forces conducted thorough field monitoring and surveillance operations, during which investigations revealed the involvement of a group of infiltrators in our camp in the assassination operation”.
“They have been handed over to the relevant security authorities in the Lebanese state”, it added.
Two Individuals in Army’s Custody
The Palestinian factions have handed two Syrian minors to the Lebanese army intelligence, according to Lebanese security sources. They are being interrogated for their involvement in the assassination of Hadi Mustafa.
A source told Asharq Al-Awsat on condition of anonymity that the detainees planted a tracking device in the vehicle of a member of the Qassam Brigades, facilitating his assassination with an Israeli drone.
A Lebanese judicial source also confirmed the arrest of two individuals suspected of involvement in the assassination of Mustafa. “The army intelligence is conducting an investigation with two Syrian minors based on information linking them to this assassination”, he told Asharq AlAwsat.
Hamas: Arresting the Operator
A source in the Hamas group told Asharq Al-Awsat that a third person, the operator of the Syrian minors, was arrested in the Rashidieh Palestinian refugee camp. According to information, each of the detainees received the sum of approximately 11 US dollars in exchange for planting the tracking device.
The Israeli army had said that Mustafa was a "central figure" in Hamas in Lebanon and that he was "promoting terrorist activities against Israeli targets worldwide, and was involved in directing sabotage cells and field activities to attack Israeli and Jewish targets in various countries around the world."
Record Full of Assassinations
One of the most notable assassinations attributed to Israeli operatives is the killing of Hamas leader and head of its political office, Saleh al-Arouri, in an Israeli raid targeting a building in the southern suburb of Beirut, the stronghold of the Lebanese Hezbollah.
Additionally, the assassination of the son of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc leader, MP Mohammed Raad, occurred during a raid targeting a residence in southern Lebanon while he was inside with several party members.
Furthermore, the assassination of Wissam al-Taweel, a commander in the Al-Ridwan Force affiliated with Hezbollah, took place in a bombing targeting his car in southern Lebanon.
According to Dr. Riad Kahwaji, the CEO of the Near East and Gulf Military Analysis (INEGMA), "In wars, armies always seek to strengthen their intelligence capabilities against the targeted party, which is why Israel always resorts to enhancing human intelligence and recruiting agents for it is not a new matter."
“The repeated successes in targeting leaders, whether from Hezbollah or Hamas and knowing their movement methods and times, as well as identifying weapon storage locations, require advanced intelligence work through agents present on the ground.
“It appears that the Israeli side has succeeded in recruiting a large number of these agents, enabling it to achieve the desired hits”, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

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US Seeks to Persuade Lebanon to Start Talks with Israel

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun attends a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Friday, March 28, 2025. (Sarah Meyssonnier/Pool via AP)
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun attends a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Friday, March 28, 2025. (Sarah Meyssonnier/Pool via AP)
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US Seeks to Persuade Lebanon to Start Talks with Israel

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun attends a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Friday, March 28, 2025. (Sarah Meyssonnier/Pool via AP)
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun attends a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Friday, March 28, 2025. (Sarah Meyssonnier/Pool via AP)

Israel’s response to the launch of two unidentified rockets marks a shift as it coincides with the planned return of US Deputy Special Envoy for the Middle East Morgan Ortagus to Beirut.

In her second visit, Ortagus aims to persuade Lebanon’s government to engage in diplomatic negotiations with Tel Aviv.

The proposed talks would involve three working groups tasked with securing the release of Lebanese detainees, overseeing Israel’s withdrawal from remaining occupied points, and delineating borders in accordance with the 1949 armistice agreement.

The launch of two rockets marks the second such incident in less than a week.

The first attack took place last Saturday, targeting the Israeli settlement of Metula with three rockets, which were intercepted and brought down by Israel near the Blue Line.

The latest rocket fire coincided with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun’s meeting with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in Paris, in what appeared to be a message that the Lebanese army’s efforts to assert state authority over all national territory were insufficient—particularly as Ortagus prepares for her return to Beirut.

The identity of those behind the rocket launches remains unclear, as Hezbollah has repeatedly denied any involvement.

Sources familiar with the security meeting chaired by Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, who was in contact with Aoun during his talks with Macron, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the meeting closely examined the question of who was responsible for the attacks.

According to the sources, the assessment within the expanded security meeting was that Hezbollah had no interest in launching the rockets.

Discussions among security officials, however, also ruled out Palestinian factions, as the rockets were fired from an area under Hezbollah’s influence.

Hezbollah, the sources noted, is sensitive to the prevailing mood among Lebanon’s Shiite community, which seeks stability in the south—a goal that remains elusive while the war continues.

The group is wary of alienating its support base and has refrained from responding to Israeli ceasefire violations, despite the embarrassment this causes within its ranks.

Currently, Hezbollah is aligned with the Lebanese government’s diplomatic efforts to pressure Israel into withdrawing from southern Lebanon, the sources said. President Aoun recently affirmed that the group is cooperating with the Lebanese army south of the Litani River.

If the ongoing military intelligence investigation determines that neither Hezbollah nor any other local actor was involved in the rocket launches, questions may arise over whether Israel itself was behind the attack, given its history of ceasefire violations.

Israel, the sources added, has the most to gain from undermining the US-French-brokered ceasefire agreement.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, has little to gain from escalating tensions, particularly as Lebanon enters Eid al-Fitr and Easter—holidays that traditionally bring an influx of expatriates and provide a much-needed economic boost.

The sources also questioned whether Israel, with its extensive surveillance capabilities, was truly unable to detect and prevent the launch of the two 107mm rockets.

They pointed out that Israel maintains close aerial monitoring over southern Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley, and the Lebanese-Syrian border, frequently tracking and assassinating Hezbollah operatives.

It has previously targeted the group’s military facilities but did not strike the site from which the rockets were launched, nor the platform used in the attack. Instead, Israel imposed a tit-for-tat equation, equating Kiryat Shmona with Beirut’s southern suburbs—just as it had earlier linked Metula to the Lebanese capital.

The sources did not rule out the possibility that Israel orchestrated the attack through its agents—an angle security services continue to investigate.

If no Lebanese group is found responsible, the sources suggested, the incident could be linked to internal divisions within Hezbollah, where some elements advocate military responses to Israeli violations, while others back the government’s diplomatic approach.

Israel’s response, they added, fits within broader efforts to pressure Lebanon into direct negotiations—a move openly supported by Washington, as conveyed through Ortagus.

The timing of the rocket launch, coinciding with the Aoun-Macron meeting, was seen as an attempt to push France toward aligning with the US position, rather than maintaining its current stance, which is more sympathetic to Lebanon’s perspective.

Ahead of Ortagus’s visit, Aoun outlined Lebanon’s approach to the US proposal from Paris, stressing that any negotiations must distinguish between three separate issues: the release of Lebanese detainees, Israel’s withdrawal from occupied points, and border demarcation under internationally recognized diplomatic protocols—without leading to normalization with Israel or forcing Lebanon into a “war or negotiations” scenario dictated by Tel Aviv.