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Leading Hezbollah commander killed 'by Israeli military' Leading Hezbollah commander killed in Syria 'by Israeli military'
(35 minutes later)
A leading commander of the Lebanese militia Hezbollah has been killed in Syria, in an attack being blamed on the Israeli military. Hezbollah has confirmed that its military commander, Mustafa Badreddine, was killed in Syria this week in what it describes as a “major explosion” at Damascus Airport.
Hezbollah confirmed in a statement that Mustafa Badreddine, 55, who was believed to have been the second most powerful figure in the organisation, had been killed in an explosion.. Media reports in Lebanon and Israel quickly suggested the blast had been caused by an Israeli airstrike, a suggestion that Hezbollah gave weight to, announcing it was investigating whether a ‘missile or artillery strike’ had been responsible.
“He took part in most of the operations of the Islamic resistance since 1982,” Hezbollah said in a statement, describing Badreddine as “the great jihadi leader”. Badreddine was the most senior member of the organisation to have been killed since the death of his predecessor and brother-in-law, Imad Mughniyeh, who was assassinated by a joint Mossad/CIA operation in the Syrian capital in February 2008.
The group said it was an explosion near Damascus airport that killed him, but they have not determined yet if it was an airstrike. There was no immediate reaction from the Israeli government, which has authorised at least eight air strikes against targets inside Syria since the start of the civil war five years ago. Most had targeted anti aircraft systems that Israeli officials claimed were being moved to Lebanon, where they could pose a threat against its air force.
“The information gleaned from the initial investigation is that a major explosion targeted one of our centres near Damascus International Airport, which led to the martyrdom of Sayyed Zul Fikar (his nom de guerre) and the injuries of others. Announcing Badreddine’s death, Hezbollah said: “He said months ago that he would not return from Syria except as a martyr or carrying the flag of victory,” Hezbollah said in its eulogy. “He is the great jihadi leader Mustafa Badreddine, and he has returned today a martyr.”
“The investigation will work to determine the nature of the explosion and its causes, whether it was due to an air or missile or artillery strike and we will announce the results of the investigation soon.” “The information gleaned from the initial investigation is that a major explosion targeted one of our centres near Damascus International Airport, which led to the martyrdom of Sayyid Zul Fikar and the injuries of others. The investigation will work to determine the nature of the explosion and its causes, whether it was due to an air or missile or artillery strike and we will announce the results of the investigation soon.”
Badreddine was killed on Tuesday night, the statement said. Nicknamed Zul Fikar, after the sword of Imam Ali, the Prophet Muhammad’s cousin and one of the most revered figures in Shia Islam. Born in 1961 in the southern Beirut suburb of Ghobeiry, Badreddine rose to greater prominence after Mughniyeh assassination.
Earlier reports had been conflicting about the location of the airstrike, with Lebanese TV station Al-Mayadeen saying it took place near Damascus airport where Hezbollah has been fighting on the side of the Assad regime. Others placed it on the Lebanon-Israel or Lebanon-Syria border. He was sentenced to death in Kuwait in the 1980s over a plot to blow up the American and French embassies there during the Iran-Iraq war, but later escaped after Saddam Hussein’s army invaded the oil-rich emirate and threw open its prisons.
Badreddine, who is sanctioned by the United States, was a brother-in-law of the late Hezbollah military commander Imad Moughniyah. He was tried in absentia by a UN-backed special tribunal for the 2005 killing of statesman Rafik al-Hariri. Hezbollah said he had been involved in nearly all the group’s operations since its inception in the early 1980s. Most had targeted Israel, which occupied Lebanon from 1982-2000. However, Badreddine had also been accused of leading a cell that was allegedly responsible for the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafiq Hariri on the Beirut waterfront in February 2005.
Badreddine was sentenced to death in Kuwait for his role in bomb attacks there in 1983. He escaped from prison in Kuwait after the country was invaded by Iraq under the leadership of Saddam Hussein in 1990. He was indicted in 2011 by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, an international court established in the Hague, in connection with the massive 2005 bombing, which led Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad to withdraw his forces from Lebanon in the face of a civic uprising.
For years, Badreddine masterminded military operations against Israel from Lebanon and overseas and managed to escape capture by Arab and western governments by operating clandestinely. Badreddine and four other alleged members of Hezbollah remain on trial in absentia at the Hague. Prosecutors have offered one of the few publicly available glimpses of the shadowy Hezbollah operative, describing him as the “apex” of the cell that allegedly killed Hariri, and a figure who was akin to an “untraceable ghost” who assumed multiple identities.
Related: 'Nobody wants to stay in Lebanon. It’s a miserable life'Related: 'Nobody wants to stay in Lebanon. It’s a miserable life'
A US treasury department statement detailing sanctions against Badreddine in 2015 said he was assessed to be responsible for the group’s military operations in Syria since 2011. He was known to have studied at a Lebanese university and to have maintained an apartment in the Lebanese seaside area of Jounieh. He was also active in the south Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, where he was last seen early last year at a wake for Jihad Mughniyeh, the son of Imad Mughniyeh, who was also killed by an Israeli airstrike.
Hezbollah has held sway in Lebanon for decades and has been a constant opponent for Israel. While holding senior positions throughout his career, Badreddine was most known for his role in leading Hezbollah’s large contingent in Syria, which it sent to defend the interest of the Assad regime as his grip on power weakened in 2012. Hezbollah has since lost an estimated 900 members in fighting across Syria, where along with Iran, it has taken the lead in directing numerous battles.
The militant group intervened in the Syrian civil war alongside Assad – another ally of Iran – saving his regime from collapse and prolonging the conflict. Israel has refused to comment on the airstrikes it had previously launched inside Syria. However unnamed officials have said that the strikes had targeted anti-aircraft systems that were allegedly being transferred to Hezbollah. It had also targeted a Hezbollah leader, Samir Kuntar, who had been jailed inside Israel for more than 30 years until his release in 2008.
Despite Israeli protests, Russia has recently proceeded with a long-delayed sale to Iran of the advanced S-300 weapons system, which can shoot down the most modern fighter jets. Israeli officials had said they would prioritise tracking the whereabouts of the systems, the position of which in southern Lebanon would pose a potent threat to their air force.
The US treasury department sanctioned Badreddine in 2012 for his activities in support of the government of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, along with the party’s leader Hassan Nasrallah and its head of external operations, Talal Hamiyah.
Hezbollah said it would hold funeral services on Friday in honour of Badreddine. In South Beirut, posters of Badreddine, whose image had rarely been published, were being hung from overpasses and lamp posts.
Tens of thousands of mourners are expected to pay their respects at a shrine site for Hezbollah dead, which includes the graves of Imad and Jihad Mughniyah. Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, is expected to make a public statement - his second within a week.