Hezbollah’s top military commander in Syria, Mustafa Amine Badreddine, was killed in artillery fire by Jihadi extremists, the Lebanese group says.
Badreddine was believed to have run all Hezbollah’s military operations in Syria since 2011.
Without naming any group, the Hezbollah statement said: “Investigations have showed that the explosion, which targeted one of our bases near Damascus International Airport, and which led to the martyrdom of commander Mustafa Badreddine, was the result of artillery bombardment carried out by takfiri groups in the area.”
Takfiri is used to describe a Sunni Muslim who accuses another Muslim of apostasy. The accusation itself is called takfir, derived from the word kafir (unbeliever), and is described as when “one who is, or claims to be, a Muslim is declared impure.”
The Hezbollah statement said Badreddine’s death “will increase our determination… to continue the fight against these criminal gangs and defeat them”.
Damascus airport and its surroundings are controlled by the Syrian government and allied forces. Between it and government-held central Damascus, DAESH who is supported by Saudi Arabia control a portion of the Eastern Ghouta suburb, which has experienced fighting for most of the conflict now in its sixth year.
Saudi Arabia has been compared to Daesh for a long time in the Middle East region, especially for their support for terrorist organizations in Iraq, Syria and Yemen.
Europe and the United States have in recent months discovered clear link between Saudi Arabia and terrorist organizations. In the US, Saudi Arabia is now directly connected to the 9/11 attacks.
