Beirut, May 18 (IANS): A Hamas member was reportedly killed and two other people injured in what appeared to be a targeted Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon on Friday.

Israeli drone followed a four-wheel drive vehicle that was driving in the town of Rashaya, fired two air-to-surface missiles at it, burning the car and killing its driver, Sharhabil al-Sayed, and seriously wounding his companion and a civilian who happened to be at the scene, Lebanese military sources told Xinhua news agency.

The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas confirmed in a statement that al-Sayed was a member.

While inspecting the scene of the incident, a Hamas official in the Bekaa region in eastern Lebanon, Mahmoud Baraka, vowed in a separate brief statement that the movement "will remain resistant until the complete liberation of Palestine."

Tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border escalated on October 8, 2023, following a barrage of rockets launched by the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah toward Israel in solidarity with Hamas' attack on Israel the day before. Israel then retaliated by firing heavy artillery toward southeastern Lebanon.