The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Friday that a leading figure in the Iraqi Hezbollah was assassinated in a “precise” targeting by an Israeli drone on the road to Damascus International Airport.
Local Syrian news accounts reported on Friday morning that a car had caught fire, killing one person and wounding another inside it, as a result of being targeted by an Israeli drone, amid a complete media blackout by the regime’s official and semi-official media.
The observatory said that the car was burned after being targeted accurately by an Israeli drone on the airport road, confirming the killing of the Iraqi Hezbollah leader “Abu Haidar” and the injury of his companion, while indicating that the targeting took place at five in the morning.
He added that ambulances were seen heading to the targeted location near the Sayyida Zeinab area, south of Damascus, explaining that the leader owns a military headquarters and a rest house in the area, while it is not known whether he left the headquarters towards the rest house or was heading somewhere else.
In the area where the attack took place, there are military headquarters belonging to the Iraqi, Lebanese and Syrian Hezbollah, as well as others belonging to the Iranian militias. These parties control farms there, and the movements of elements and leaders take place away from the eyes of the regime’s security services, according to the Observatory.
For its part, the Israeli Broadcasting Authority quoted sources as saying that a senior leadership figure was killed as a result of the targeting of Damascus International Airport.
Targeting Iraqi militias
The targeting comes about 4 months after an Israeli bombardment targeted a camp for the Iraqi Al-Nujaba Movement in the Sayyida Zeinab area, south of the capital Damascus, and the movement’s cultural center, while the latter vowed a harsh response to the attack.
The Iraqi Hezbollah and the Al-Nujaba Movement are two main pillars of the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq,” which has adopted the launching of missiles and drones towards the occupied territories in the Golan Heights and northern Palestine, some of which were launched from within Syrian territory.
Their groups are mainly spread out in the Sayyida Zeinab area, the capital of the Iranian militias as they have come to be called. They also have headquarters in Deir ez-Zor, and sources also indicate that they are spread out on the border with the Syrian Golan, southwest of Damascus.
Recent months have witnessed repeated assassinations of leading figures in the Lebanese Hezbollah, by targeting Israeli drones on the Damascus-Beirut road, while targeting Iranian leading figures in Syria dates back to before the “Al-Aqsa Flood” attack.
