Hezbollah commando leader assassinated in Israeli air strike

A senior commander of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan commando unit was assassinated in an Israeli air strike on Monday in Lebanon, the IDF has confirmed.

Ali Ahmed Hassin, the Radwan Forces commander in the Hajir region, was killed in Sultaniyeh in southern Lebanon along with two other Hezbollah members under his command.

“Ali Ahmed Hassin was a senior operative in the terrorist organisation and held a rank equivalent to that of brigade commander. In his role, he was responsible for planning and carrying out terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians in northern Israel,” the IDF said.

The army also said that Hassin had carried out “numerous” rocket attacks against Israel since October 8, when Hezbollah decided to join Hamas in its attacks against Israel.

Hezbollah has fired 3,100 rockets at Israel since October 8, while Israel has launched some 4,700 strikes along its northern border, most of which have been against Hezbollah in Lebanon. On January 8, an Israeli air strike killed Wissam Tawil, another top commander of the Radwan unit.

Israel is on high alert in the north following the killing of a top Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander in Damascus last week. Both Iran and Hezbollah have promised to retaliate when the time is right.

Mohammad Bagheri, the IRGC’s chief of staff, said the response “will be carried out at the right time, with the necessary precision and planning, and with maximum damage to the enemy so that they regret their action”.

Yahya Rahim Safavi, senior adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, went as far as threatening Israel’s embassies across the world. “The embassies of the Zionist regime are no longer safe,” he said.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said during a cabinet meeting on Sunday that Iran “stands behind its proxies’ many attacks” against Israel.

“Whoever harms us or plans to harm us – we will harm them. We are carrying out this idea in practice, all the time, including recently, near and far, in our immediate surroundings and further afield. Israel is prepared – defensively and offensively – for any attempt to attack us, from anywhere,” Mr Netanuyahu said.

Yoav Gallant, the defence minister, said that Israel had “completed preparations for a response against any scenario that would develop against Iran”.

Source » msn.com