Badriddine is the brother-in-law of Imad Mughniyeh, a former Hezbollah commander assassinated in Syria in 2008.
Advertisement
However, any of the armed groups seeking to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad might have have sought to kill the man co-ordinating Hezbollah military activities.
The explosion took place at a base near the Damascus airport, and Hezbollah says it is unclear what caused it, saying it might’ve been caused by “air raid, a missile or artillery fire”.
Badreddine, in his mid-50s, was a key player in Hezbollah s military wing.
Hezbollah said Saturday that the death of its top commander in Syria was the result of rebel shelling, and not an Israeli airstrike.
“This is one of the most elite and uniquely pedigreed Hezbollah personalities”. The 1983 Kuwait bombings left over 241 marines killed apart from other human casualties.
Badreddine was one of five Hezbollah members indicted by the United Nations -backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon in the 2005 killing of statesman Rafik al-Hariri, one of Lebanon’s most prominent Sunni Muslim figures. He escaped from prison in Kuwait after Iraq, under the leadership of Saddam Hussein, invaded the country in 1990. According to STL prosecutors, Elias Fouad Saab was a known alias of Mr Badreddine.
Mustafa Badreddine, whose nom de guerre was Sayyid Zul Fikar after the sword of Imam Ali, had been an active member of Hezbollah for a long time.
He is also alleged to have taken “overall control” of the suicide vehicle bomb attack that killed Rafik Hariri and 21 others in Beirut in February 2005.
There have been reports that Israel was behind the deadly attack, which happened near Damascus airport.
He was once dubbed by a prosecutor of the International Criminal Court as an “untraceable ghost”. While planning the bombing, they alleged, he presented himself as Sami Issa – the registered owner of three jewellery shops, an apartment in Jounieh and a motor boat, who said he was from a Christian village.
Many political assassinations involving Lebanese and Syrian political figures have remained unsolved, our correspondent says.
Thousands of mourners, including high-level Hezbollah officials, turned out to Badreddine’s funeral on Friday in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Hezbollah’s statements indicate it will continue to be deeply involved in the conflict next door, which has killed more than 250,000 people since 2011, including more than 1,000 Hezbollah fighters.
“This is a prince of Hezbollah, second only to the late Mughniyeh”, said Levitt.
Advertisement
So this is a very complicated operation and I believe that there are many hands at stake but definitely Israel is one side implicated in the killing of Mustafa Badreddine.
