The Israeli army killed a Hezbollah commander, Salim Jamil Ayyash, in an airstrike. According to the Times of Israel, Salim was hiding in Al-Qusayr, a Hezbollah stronghold in Syria. Besides Salim, 8 other people were killed during the Israeli army attack.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry criticized the attack and demanded Israel’s expulsion from the United Nations.
Salim was a member of Hezbollah Unit 151. America had given him a reward of $10 million (Rs 84 crore). He is responsible for the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri. Hariri was Lebanon’s most popular Sunni Muslim leader. He was 5 times Prime Minister of the country.
On February 14, 2005, Hariri’s convoy was hit by a truck loaded with 3,000 kg of explosives in Beirut. He died in there. 21 people who accompanied him were also killed in the attack.
A Lebanese man cries for help to the injured after the explosion in Beirut. Former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri was killed in this explosion.
According to the United Nations, explosives equivalent to 3,000 kg of dynamite were used in Hariri’s assassination. The attack was so terrible that the explosion left a crater 11 meters wide.
Hezbollah refuses to hand over Salim and accuses Mossad of murder. The United Nations, based in The Hague, Netherlands, formed the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) after Hariri’s death. In 2022, the STL held three people, including Salim, responsible for the murder of Rafiqui and sentenced them all to life in prison.
The court had declared that Salim Ayyash led the suicide squad that assassinated Prime Minister Hariri. Two other people, Hassan Habib Merhi and Hussein Hassan Onassi, were also included.
All three had been on the run since the murder. Hassan Nasrallah, then head of Hezbollah, refused to hand over these three people to court. Nasrallah said Mossad had Hariri assassinated to expel the Syrian army from Lebanon.
In fact, after the start of the civil war in Lebanon, Syria took over the northeastern region of the country. Hariri was pressuring Syria to leave the area, but his efforts were unsuccessful. In the meantime, he was assassinated.
Relations between Syria and Lebanon deteriorated after Hariri’s assassination. Lebanon’s local leaders have been pressuring Syria to leave the country. Ultimately, pressure was placed on Syria from the United Nations, causing Syria to withdraw its forces from Lebanon in April 2005, ending 29 years of occupation of the country.
However, Hezbollah was later found guilty of Hariri’s assassination. Hezbollah was angry at improving relations between Israel and Lebanon. In fact, Hariri has built good relations with Israel. He succeeded in reconquering South Lebanon by negotiating with Israel. Israel had occupied this area for 18 years.
The Israeli Defense Minister said: “We have defeated Israel, defeating Nasrallah is a great achievement. Meanwhile, Israel’s new Defense Minister, Israel Katz, declared on Sunday that his country had defeated Hezbollah. Katz also said that the elimination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was Israel’s greatest achievement.
Katz said to get this winning result we need to keep the pressure on. He said Israel is not interested in Lebanon’s internal politics, but he hopes Lebanon will join other countries to normalize relations with Israel.
Israel took responsibility for pager and walkie-talkie attack after 54 days: Netanyahu said approval was given for security; There were 40 deaths in Lebanon
Israel took responsibility after 54 days for the serial explosions that took place in the pager (communication device) of Hezbollah members in Lebanon on September 17. Prime Minister Netanyahu admitted Sunday that he approved the attack on the grounds of Israel’s security. here…