Israel airstrike kills longest-serving Lebanese prisoner

Samir Kantar, a Lebanese who was convicted of executing one of the most notorious attacks in Israeli history and spent nearly three decades in an Israeli prison, has been killed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a residential building near the Syrian capital, the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah group said on Sunday.

Hezbollah said Kantar, known in Lebanon as "The Dean of Lebanese Prisoners" for being the longest-held prisoner in Israel, was killed along with eight others in the strike in the Damascus suburb of Jaramana on Saturday night.

Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV said two Israeli warplanes that violated Syrian airspace fired four long-range missiles at the residential building. It aired footage of what it said was the building, which appeared to be completely destroyed. Kantar's brother, Bassam, confirmed his "martyrdom" in a Facebook posting on Sunday.

Syria's media, which did not mention Qantar, blamed "terrorist groups" for the attack and said it caused casualties.

An Israeli Cabinet minister welcomed on Sunday the killing of Qantar but stopped short of confirming allegations Israel was responsible.

"It is good that people like Samir Qantar will not be part of our world," Construction and Housing Minister Yoav Gallant told Israel Radio.

Kantar and four Hezbollah guerrillas were freed in 2008 in exchange for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers captured by Hezbollah in 2006, whose capture sparked a 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah. His release was highly controversial in Israel, where he is believed to be the perpetrator of one of the most grisly attacks in Israeli history.

Three life terms

Kantar was imprisoned in 1979 in Israel and sentenced to three life terms after he and three other Lebanese infiltrated Israel in 1979 and staged an attack in town of Nahariya, killing a policeman and then kidnapping a man and his 4-year-old daughter and killing them outside their home.

Israel said Kantar, who was 16 at the time, brutally beat the girl to death by bashing her head with a rifle. He denies this, saying the girl was killed in the crossfire. As the attack unfolded, the girl's mother hid inside a crawl space inside their home and accidentally smothered their crying 2-year-old daughter, fearing Kantar would find them.

Kantar, 53, received a hero's welcome upon his return to Lebanon in 2008. He is the most high profile Hezbollah fighter to be killed since last year.

AP - Reuters - AFP?