Smoke rises on the Lebanese side of the border between Israel and Lebanon after an Israeli airstrike, as seen from northern Israel, November 18, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

An Israeli drone strike on a car outside the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on Wednesday killed a member of Hamas from the nearby Palestinian camp of Rashidieh, Israeli and Hamas officials said.

A Hamas source, speaking to Reuters, identified the member as Hadi Mustafa but said he was not a senior figure. Hamas’ Al Aqsa television said Mustafa was a leader of the group’s armed wing.

The Israeli military confirmed it had killed Mustafa in southern Lebanon and called him a “significant” Hamas operative, alleging he was responsible for attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets around the world.

Two security sources said a Syrian man who was passing by on his motorcycle was also killed in the strike, after earlier saying that the two fatalities had been in Mustafa’s car.

All three sources said the drone, which they identified as Israeli, hovered in the air above the site of the strike for several minutes after it was carried out.

Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist faction that carried out a deadly incursion into southern Israel from the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, also has a political and military presence in Lebanon, largely based in camps where Palestinian refugees have lived for decades.

The Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah has been launching rockets at Israel since October in support of Hamas. In response, Israel has been carrying out strikes in Lebanon, mostly confined to the border region but increasingly spreading further north and east.

Both Hamas and Hezbollah are backed by Iran, which provides the Islamist terrorist groups with arms, funds, and training.