Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine confirms death of 3 leaders in Beirut attack

Muhammad Abdel Aal, also known as Abu Ghazi, a member of the PFLP’s political bureau and the head of its military security department, Imad Odeh, also known as Abu Ziad, a member of the PFLP’s military department and a military commander in Lebanon, and Abdul Rahman Abdel Aal, who it described only as a “comrade martyr hero” were killed in the Israeli raid in the Lebanese capital.

PFLP pledged to “continue the path of struggle and resistance until the occupation will be swept away no matter how long it takes, and no matter how great the sacrifices”.

Israel carried out an airstrike near Kola intersection in central Beirut in the early hours of Monday morning, the first time it has struck Beirut outside the southern suburbs since 2006.

The sound of the explosion was heard around the city.

Kola intersection is a popular reference point in Beirut, where taxis and buses gather to pick up awaiting passengers.

Initial pictures from the scene of the raid showed two stories of an apartment building completely blown out. A video showed onlookers running towards the building, and a mangled body laying on the sidewalk outside the building, seemingly ejected by the force of the blast.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine was founded by George Habash in 1967 as an umbrella organisation for Marxist-Leninist and Arab nationalist groups after Israel occupied the West Bank and seized East Jerusalem.

Its military wing, known as the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, is active in Gaza where it has worked alongside Hamas.

The PFLP calls for the creation of a democratic Palestinian state in all of historic Palestine through armed struggle.

The EU and US have designated both its political and military wings “terrorist organisations”.