'Israeli air strike' kills several Palestinians near Lebanon-Syria border

An Israeli air strike targeting positions of a Palestinian group in eastern Lebanon has killed five Palestinians and wounded 10 others, group officials said.

An Israeli official speaking on condition of anonymity denied the country had any role in Wednesday's incident. Lebanon's army declined to comment.

The Israeli military said it does not comment on reports in foreign media and a correspondent for Israel's Army Radio, citing Israeli officials, said "there was no Israeli attack on the PFLP along the Lebanon-Syria border".

However, Anwar Raja of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, said the Israeli strike hit the Lebanese eastern town of Qusaya near the border with Syria. He said two of the wounded are in critical condition.

Another PFLP-GC official, the Lebanon-based Abu Wael Issam, said that his group will respond “at the suitable time.” He added that the strike will not deter his group from “escalating the fight against the Israeli enemy.”

A representative for the PFLP-GC in Lebanon Abu Kifah Ghazi said airplanes had been heard over the PFLP-GC position all night.

Asked about the Israel response, Raja attributed Israel’s denial to “the sensitivity of the situation in Lebanon,” a suggestion that any acknowledgement of a strike by Israel would push Hezbollah to retaliate.

Rare strikes

It has been rare for Israel to carry out air strikes on Lebanon in recent years.

Israel launched rare strikes in southern Lebanon in April, wounding two Syrian workers and causing some property damage.

The Israeli military said at the time that it had targeted installations of Hamas, the Palestinian armed group, in southern Lebanon.

The PFLP-GC, a group founded in 1968, is sanctioned by the United States and the European Union.

It has positions along the Lebanon-Syria border as well as presence in both countries, according to Israel who alleges the group carried out attacks against the country in the past.

During Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1985, the PFLP-GC captured three Israeli soldiers and negotiated their release in exchange for more than 1,100 mostly Palestinian, Lebanese and Syrian prisoners.