Israeli airstrike overnight targeted a dwelling of Samir Kuntar, a senior member of the Lebanese Hezbollah group, in east of the capital Damascus, killing him and destroying the entire building, state media and sources said Sunday.

The Israeli strike struck the building where Kuntar was staying in the predominantly-Druze district of Jaramanah east of Damascus late on Saturday, Hezbollah and some local press said.

Kuntar, a Lebanese man from the Druze sect who was convicted by Israel for the killing of civilians in 1979, was released during a prisoner swap between Israel and Hezbollah in 2008, after which he joined the Shiite group.

Hezbollah has been engaged in the battles alongside the Syrian army in the face of the nearly five-years insurgency, which the Syrian government blames on a foreign plot, in which Israel is playing a role.

Israel has repeatedly carried out airstrikes in Syria, claiming it was targeting Hezbollah-bound weapons. Still, it wasn't clear why targeting Kuntar in this particular time in Jaramanah.

The Syrian government has yet to comment on the incident.

(Xinhua)