Hezbollah Commander Survived Assassination Attempt Near Syria’s Damasc…
On May 17, a military commander of Lebanon’s Hezbollah survived an assassination attempt near the Syrian capital, Damascus, according to several Syrian pro-opposition news sources.
The commander, who is reportedly called “Mohsen,” was about to board his car in the town of Qatana, a few kilometers to the east of Damascus, when his guards uncovered an explosive device that was planted under it. The explosive device was successfully removed, pro-opposition news sources reported. Later, a large security force was deployed in Qatana and several checkpoints were set on the entrances of the town.
The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency is yet to confirm reports on the assassination attempt. Hezbollah is also still silent over the reports.
Hezbollah, a key ally of the Syrian government, maintains a covert presence inside and around Damascus. The group entered the country after the outbreak of the war to support government forces against rebels seeking to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad. It has since been accused by Israel of smuggling advanced weapons from its other key ally, Iran, into Lebanon through Syria.
In 2020, two operatives of Hezbollah survived an Israeli drone strike that targeted their car on the Syrian side of Jdaidit Yabws border crossing, which is located to the northeast of Damascus. Back then, it was reported that one of the operatives was Mustafa Mughniyah, the elder son of senior Hezbollah leader Imad Mughniyeh who was assassinated in Damascus with an explosive device in 2008.
Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah warned on several occasions in the past that the group will respond to any attack on its personnel inside or outside Lebanon.
When Israeli strikes killed the youngest son of Imad Mughniyeh, Jihad, in the southern Syrian governorate of al-Qunitra in 2015, Hezbollah responded days later by attacking an Israeli military patrol in the occupied Shebaa Farms, killing two soldiers.
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