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Hamas Leader Survives Israeli Air Strike
Dammit. EFL:
Israeli warplanes flattened the home of senior Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar on Wednesday, wounding him and killing his son and a bodyguard, in retaliation for twin suicide bombings that killed 15 Israelis a day earlier.
Another hit on the politburo. If anything's going to have an effect, it'll be this...
In meetings with security chiefs overnight, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz decided to intensify targeted killings of Hamas leaders. Mofaz and his advisers were in session when they received word of the Jerusalem bombing. Hamas did not claim responsibility, but had threatened unprecedented revenge for Israel’s failed attempt to kill Hamas leaders, including founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin, in a weekend airstrike. People in the West Bank village of Rantis said they believe two young men from the Abu Isleem clan, both Hamas supporters, carried out Tuesday’s bombings. The two - Ramez Abu Isleem, 24, and Ihab Abdel Kader, 20 - disappeared last week, villagers said. Hamas did not announce the names of the bombers. On Wednesday, the Israeli military raided Rantis and arrested 20 clan members.
Seems like it was them...
Israeli warplanes bombed the home of Zahar, a senior official in Hamas, less than 12 hours after the attack on the Jerusalem coffee house. Witnesses said Zahar was nearby when the two-story structure was flattened. Zahar’s bodyguard and his 29-year-old son, Khaled, were killed, hospital officials said.
Well, at least he won’t get to take over Daddy’s job.
Twenty-five people were wounded, including three women and five children. Zahar’s wife suffered serious wounds but was in stable condition after surgery, said Dr. Hazaa Abed, director of surgery at Shifa Hospital. A daughter of Zahar also was lightly wounded. Another of his sons, Sami, was missing.
Missing what?
Zahar himself left the hospital, and Hamas officials said he was taken to a safe place.
We’re hoping for complications and a long slow painful death.
An ambulance driver, Rami Salameh, said he evacuated Zahar. "When I moved him to the stretcher with the help of other people, he screamed from pain in his back, but he was talking to us, saying `I’m OK, I’m OK,’" Salameh said.
Hope it’s very painful.
On Tuesday, Israeli troops in Hebron killed two Hamas members - including the group’s leader in the West Bank city - and a 12-year-old bystander, and blew up a seven-story apartment building where the militants were hiding out.
Good, they did get them, I hadn’t heard.
Posted by: Steve 2003-09-10
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=18531