Beirut bombings suspect ‘killed’ in Syria

A televison station in Lebanon has said that a joint operation by Hezbollah and Syrian security agents has killed an Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) figure suspected of involvement in Beirut’s deadly bombing earlier this month.

Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV said that Abdul-Salam Hendawi, also known as Abu Abdo, died in an ambush in an ISIL-held area in Syria’s central province of Homs.

The television channel added that Hendawi was responsible for bringing two suicide bombers into Lebanon who carried out the attack on November 12 in southern Beirut.

The attack, which was claimed by ISIL, killed 43 people and wounded more than 200.

Thursday’s report did not say when the ambush on Hendawi took place.

It added that his main job was to transport suicide attackers from the ISIL-held northern Syrian city of Raqqa into Lebanon.

ISIL, which often makes public statements through websites that support the group, did not immediately confirm Hendawi’s death, the AP news agency said.