Civil Defense in southern Lebanon reported that three people were killed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted an apartment building in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon before dawn on Friday.

Local sources quoted a Lebanese security source as saying that the target of the raid was a Palestinian leader who was killed along with his two sons.

The security source added that an Israeli aircraft targeted the apartment with two missiles, directly hitting it.

In the same context, reports indicated that the target of the Israeli raid was the Hamas leader in Lebanon, Hassan Farhat (Abu Yasser), and that his son Hamza and daughter Janan were martyred along with him.

Immediately after the raid, rescue and ambulance teams rushed to the site of the targeted residential building, while citizens rushed to the scene to participate in the rescue efforts.

The Israeli army admitted to carrying out an attack in Lebanon, and that it assassinated "the commander of Hamas's western front in an attack in Sidon, Lebanon," last night.

The army claimed that "during the war, Farhat promoted numerous actions against IDF forces and citizens of the State of Israel, and was responsible for launching rockets at Safed that killed the late Sergeant Omar Sara Bango and injured a number of other soldiers, on February 14, 2024. He was also involved in promoting terrorism against the State of Israel in recent months, and his activities posed a threat to the State of Israel and its citizens."