One of the heads of Hezbollah, a Lebanese terrorist group, was gunned down Wednesday just outside his house in Beirut, security agents said.
Hassan al-Laqis was believed to be a high-ranking commander, part of the group’s leadership ring, NBC reported. The organization put out a statement saying he was gunned down while he was walking home from work, around midnight.
The details of his death weren’t released, NBC reported.
But Hezbollah militants said his attackers opened fire on him before he even got out of his car. He died a short while later at a nearby hospital.
Hezbollah blamed Israel for the attack.
“The Israeli enemy is naturally directly to blame,” Hezbollah said, in a statement reported by NBC. “This enemy must shoulder complete responsibility and repercussions for this ugly crime and its repeated targeting of leaders and cadres of the resistance.”
Israel, however, denies responsibility.
“Israel has nothing to do with this incident,” said foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor, in NBC. “These automatic accusations are an innate reflect with Hezbollah. They don’t need evidence, they don’t need facts, they just blame anything on Israel.”
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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