The London-based Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat claimed Sunday that a former Israeli army officer, Marco Morno, confirmed that Israel assassinated Kuntar in 2015 with “two planes that bombed a building with four long-range missiles after receiving information from ‘one of the leaders of the Syrian opposition faction.’”
Kuntar murdered three Israelis in 1979, a 28-year-old man, his 4-year-old daughter, and an Israeli policeman. The man’s 2-year-old daughter suffocated as her mother tried to quiet her crying.
The terrorist spent nearly 30 years in Israeli prisons and was released in exchange for the bodies of two IDF soldiers killed by Hezbollah in 2008. On his release, he returned to Lebanon and joined Hezbollah, becoming a prominent member.
At the time of Kuntar’s death, Israel did not claim responsibility, though according to Asharq Al-Awsat , the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has previously said that Kuntar was the target of various failed Israeli assassination attempts in Syria.
Morno reportedly told an Israeli news site about the assassination, which he said he could share under military censorship.
The IDF has not responded to the report and it remains unclear if the operation was in fact carried out by Israel or the Syrian opposition.