Israël assassinates officers of Hezbollah and Iran in Syria

The General Secretary of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, recently gave a long interview to the pan-Arabian TV channel al-Mayadeen. In particular, he confirmed that his organisation would riposte against Israël if it intervened again in the Syrian conflict.

Since the beginning, in 2011, of the international operation which aims at overthrowing the Syrian Arab Republic, Israël has bombed Syria at least five times. Tel-Aviv claims that its interventions were all directed at preventing arms being transferred to the Lebanese Hezbollah. However, in more than half the cases, this pretext was used to hide Israël’s support for Takfiri mercenaries.

Three days after the al-Mayadeen interview, Israëli helicopters entered Syria to bombard a convoy in Quneitra. They killed a group of officers from the Lebanese Hezbollah and the Guardians of the Iranian Revolution.

Among the victims were Jihad Moghniyé (son of the military head of Hezbollah, Imad Moghniyé, who was assassinated in 2008), Mohammad Ahmad Issa, responsible for Hezbollah’s engagement in Syria, and General Mohammad Ali Allah Dadi, a military advisor who had been sent by the Guardians of the Revolution.

Israël’s Prime Minister doubts that Hezbollah has the capacity to riposte while it is still engaged in Syria. By ordering this operation, Netanyahu hopes to reinforce his image as he has just announced a new series of elections.

Hezbollah showed that it was unable to avenge the assassination of Imad Moghniyé. However, the arrest last month of a spy who had aborted the organisation’s plans [1] may indicate that Hezbollah may be able to act this time.