Hezbollah blames killing of top commander in Damascus on insurgent shelling
![Adnan (C-L) and Hassan Badreddine (C-R), brothers of slain top Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine who was killed in an attack in Syria, mourn next to his casket during the funeral in the Ghobeiry neighbourhood of southern Beirut on May 13, 2016. Hezbollah announced that Badreddine had been killed in an attack in Syria where the Shiite militant group has deployed thousands of fighters in support of the Damascus regime. The group said it was still investigating the cause of the blast near Damascus airport but it did not immediately point the finger at Israel as it did when the commander's predecessor was assassinated in the Syrian capital in 2008. / AFP / ANWAR AMRO](https://www.libyanexpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/1-841056-620x349.jpg)
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.
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