Important Lebanese militant killed in Damascus airstrike

Central Lebanese militant Samir Qantar has been killed in a rocket strike near the Syrian capital Damascus, international media quote Hezbollah saying.

The rockets hit a residential building in Jaramana, an area considered a stronghold of government supporters, near Damascus on Saturday night.

Qantar was imprisoned in Israel in 1979 for a deadly attack, but he was freed as part of a controversial prisoner swap with Hezbollah in 2008, according to the BBC.

According to reports, the Lebanese Shia militant group has blamed Israel for the air strike, and an Israeli minister has welcomed news of the death, but Israel’s responsibility was not confirmed.

Qantar was convicted of murder over an attack on a civilian apartment block in Nahariya in 1979, which left two policemen, a man and his four-year-old daughter dead. A baby girl was also accidentally smothered by her mother as she hid in a cupboard in the same event.

Qantar was just 16 years old when the attack took place, and he was also accused of killing the four-year-old girl with a rifle butt, which he denied.

His release in 2008 in exchange for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers captured by Hezbollah in 2006 was highly controversial, with Qantar believed to have become a key figure in Hezbollah since his release.

Hezbollah has sent hundreds of fighters to fight alongside troops loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the country's conflict while Israel is believed to have carried out a number of attacks inside Syria targeting Hezbollah during its civil conflict.