OPINION:
A large explosion near the Damascus airport killed the senior Hezbollah commander in Syria, Mustafa Amine Badreddine. The death was most likely caused by an Israeli airstrike, reports the BBC. Badreddine has been involved in multiple battles for pro-government forces since 2011 inside Syria. Israel would not comment on the incident.
“In 2015, the US said that Badreddine was behind all Hezbollah’s military operations in Syria since 2011. The US treasury, which imposed sanctions on Badreddine last July, said at the time he was behind the movement of Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon to Syria, and was in charge of the key battle for the town of al-Qusair in 2013. Badreddine was also charged with leading the assassination of former Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, in 2005,” reported the BBC.
Badreddine was a dangerous terrorist according to multiple Western security services and was tried in absentia by the Hague for an assassination during the Lebanon war. Israel has repeatedly attacked Syrian arms shipments containing sophisticated weapons as well as other Hezbollah leaders in Syria.
Russia has opened its Syrian arms depot to Hezbollah in exchange for intelligence on the ground in its campaign against anti-Assad forces. Iran has used the Lebanese based terrorist army in its campaign to prop up the Assad government. Hezbollah has repeatedly claimed that once the Syrian Civil War is over, the group will once again target the Jewish State.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.