Israeli army assassinate Lebanese Jamaa Islamiya group senior leader

A senior leader of the Lebanese Jamaa Islamiya group was killed in an Israeli drone attack in eastern Lebanon, local media reported on Thursday.

The Lebanese official news agency NNA said Mahmoud Mohammad Jbara, a senior leader of the Lebanese Islamist Sunni group, was killed in Israeli drone airstrike on his car in the Western Bekaa area in eastern Lebanon.

The development comes amid further escalation on the Lebanese-Israeli border areas following the threats by the Hezbollah group's Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah on Wednesday to strike new settlements in Israel if the Israeli army continues to target civilians in Lebanon.

Fears have grown about a full-fledged war between Israel and the Lebanese resistance and political group amid an exchange of cross-border attacks.

The escalation comes against the backdrop of a deadly Israeli onslaught against Gaza, which has killed nearly 38,800 Palestinians in the enclave since October, following an attack by the resistance group Hamas.