Damage to a building allegedly targeted by Israeli missile strikes that killed a commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Nov. 12, 2019. (SANA via AP)
The killing of the political bureau chief was also attributed to the IDF.
By World Israel News Staff
Islamic Jihad commander Baha Abu Al Ata was not the only leader of the terrorist group targeted overnight Monday.
The terror organization reported on Tuesday morning that the head of its political bureau, Akram al-Ajouri, was killed in an explosion that rocked his building in Damascus.
Syrian News Agency Sana said two rockets struck his home “killing his son Muadh and another person.”
The IDF, which Islamic Jihad blamed for the targeted killing, has not taken responsibility for the attack.
It did take responsibility for the killing of Al Ata.
Gaza terrorists responded by launching 50 rockets as of 9:00 a.m. Tuesday. Israel’s Iron Dome defense system intercepted roughly 20.
IDF spokesperson Brig. Gen. Hidai Zilberman said Al Ata was targeted because he was “a ticking bomb” and was planning imminent attacks against the Jewish State.
Zilberman said it was an isolated event and that it doesn’t represent a return to the policy of targeted killings in which Israel has killed dozens of terror leaders in the last decade.
Israel did briefly renew the program of targeted killings in May, following a massive rocket barrage from Gaza.
On May 6, just after a cease-fire was reached with Hamas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel had officially returned to its policy of targeted killings of “senior terrorists.”
“In the past two days we have renewed the policy of eliminating senior terrorists, killing dozens of terrorists from Hamas and Islamic Jihad,” the prime minister said.
The Israel Defense Forces killed at least one high-ranking official at the time: Hamad Hudri, a member of Hamas’ Izeedine al-Qassam Brigades. Hudri was responsible for transferring funds from Iran to Gaza-based terrorist organizations.
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