Hezbollah blames killing of top commander in Damascus on insurgent shelling

Hezbollah says its top military commander was killed in Syria by insurgent shelling.

Mustafa Badreddine died in an explosion in Damascus, Lebanon’s Iran-backed militant group said Friday. He was leading Hezbollah’s effort to help Syrian President Bashar Assad fight off militant groups trying to overthrow him.

Badreddine’s death may be considered the most serious loss to the militant group since the 2008 assassination of Imad Mughniyeh, who was his cousin and predecessor. Mughniyeh was killed in a joint operation by the CIA and Israel’s Mossad spy agency, reports said.

The group says the blast that killed Mustafa Badreddine near the Damascus International Airport was caused by artillery shelling by “takfiri” groups, a term Hezbollah uses to refer to Sunni extremists.

The group said in a statement Saturday that Badreddine’s killing will only boost Hezbollah’s “will and intention to continue fighting these criminal gangs.”

Hezbollah has sent thousands of fighters to Syria to back President Bashar Assad’s government against militants trying to remove him from power.